Those wretched things called feelings
by Xander287
Summary: A story of two individuals forced to hide their true selfs under a facade of indifference. Follow them as their suppressed feelings fight for dominance. Rated M. Contains Yaoi and Sexual content. Hinata X Itachi
1. Aplomb

Her new psyche.

"Mam, please calm down un." the blond man said to the fuming woman.

"Calm? I am calm!" the petite woman retorted. Diedara sighed clenching his fists at his sides, seeing red. He then reverted to the teachings in his last meeting at the Anger Management course.

'Count to ten, breathe,think a calming thought (kill Grandma), breathe, count down from ten, find a safe way to release your anger, breathe.' he thought. But then the descending numbers had a different affect on him. ' 5, 4, 3, ah yes only two more before my fist collides with her face. Annoying granny styled punching bag, who could ask for more, 2, 1, the blood splatter was be soo artistic, fleeting and beautiful, just the perfe...' but then he was forcibly brought back to reality.

"Young man, explain to me why i can't collect my _daughter's_ things." the woman said in a way far too calm for his liking, a small smile playing on her lips, not one of amusement but rather it hidden mischief and malice.

Diedara slapped his forehead in irritancy. 'Fucking old wench, what is this the fifth time? The fucking fifth time!' he screamed, mentally pummeling the woman.

"You have to understand, Mam, i cannot release these things into your charge since they were not addressed to you. I am not saying that you are not the biological mother of the specified client but..." Diedara's explanation was cut short when the woman he was facing glared at him and then diverted her attention to another woman making her way towards them.

"Hinata, here." the woman said waving just slightly. Hinata's hands almost automatically flew to temples, moving in a circular pattern to prevent her present headache form accelerating into a giant annoyance. She then straightened her jacket and placed her phone on vibrate.

"Hello, mother." she said casually and then turned to the customs official, a man yes but with rather long hair and a far too feminine appearance. "Good afternoon Mister..." she said waiting for him to fill the blank.

"Yes, Great afternoon actually," Mrs. Huyga said sarcastically rolling her eyes. Hinata shot her mom an amused glare while Diedara's was more menacing, promising certain death.

"Diedara, just Diedara." he responded smiling brightly and then took one more look at the beauty before him. There was no way she was related to the old wench, the saying was garbage in garbage out not garbage in gold out. Her mere existence was threatening his very sanity. and to think he was planning on killing her mother, 'oh forgive me, forgive me sweet damsel' inner Deidara cried, running to a dark corner of his mind, so his intentions would not be reviled. 'forgive me...' wait her name. " And you are?" he asked maintaining his cool guy appearance.

"Oh, Hinata, Hinata Huyga." her voice was like music to his ear, lulling him into a midday stupor.

"Oh lets get on with it!" a rather grating voice broke into his 'droll over the hot girl' moment. 'oh yes the wretch, how could i forget.' he thought, bowing courtly.

As they continued to organize the papers which needed to be signed and information collected and recorded, deidara couldn't help but to occasionally glance between the two, noting anything that might say they really were related. The mother, wretch was short with short brown tresses, elaborately styled, she had hazel green eyes and a few freckles underneath both eyes, she didn't appear old, in fact she was quite pretty for her age but the gold band on her finger deterred any other thought. fortunately the other's finger was void of any sure indicator of being bound to another by law. Hinata, what a lovely name, hinata. she on the other hand had long ebony locks which had a strange yet intriguing blue hue when the light hit it a certain angle, she had the same small almost invisible freckles like her mother though she had these crazy sexy almost sea washed violent shade eyes. Diedara could just feel himself getting lose in them. He could also feel her mother glaring daggers in his direction.

just as they had finished up all the needed paper work and deidara was about to have a 'one on one' chat with the present object of his affection, her phone buzzed loudly. after conversing for about a minute on the phone the girl turned to her mother telling her to finish up since she had to leave. Deidara's stomach fell. leave? no!

"home at 9?" Mrs. Huyga asked walking away. "yeah" Hinata called over her shoulder continuing to walk in the opposite direction. Deidara quickly called out to his supervisor saying he was going on lunch.

"Don't keep the clients waiting." was the reply, "I know, I know, you hate to keep clients waiting" he grumbled walking behind hinata, he quicken his pace until he was beside her.

"hey!" he said smiling, the reply was dead and hardly there. soon enough they were at the packing lot and he noticed her reach into her pocket pulling out a key chain.

"busy today yeah?" he asked, "very" was the only reply.

"same thing tomorrow un?" he asked hopeful to hear the negative, pleading with the gods, promising to burn his entire porn collection,well maybe just his hardcopy collection, it still was quite a sacrifice, damn it! "most likely" she said putting on sunglasses as she neared a red car.

"How about the weekend?" he asked leaning against the car. hinata stopped and looked a t him, pulling off the glasses she asked " what exactly are you asking?"

Deidara grinned and chuckled lightly, 'feisty un? i like'. getting off from the car he stood and relished in the difference between their heights. "am asking if you'd like to go out with me yea" he said bending so that he was close to her face. he smirked when the slightest of pink appeared on her cheeks but then his ego was rather rudely deflated.

"Sorry, Mr. deidara but am pretty busy and almost always am, so thank you for you help today and you have a good day now." she said as she entered her car, then stuck her head outside the window "Plus i have better things to do, you know" she wore a smirk of her own at his fallen countenance.

Deidara stood there gawking as she drove off, "better things to do?" he repeated to himself, not believing his ears. 'I will never really fathom the female psyche.' he thought.


	2. Miffed

Bad day

Hinata lazily stepped out of her car, regretting that she had the chore of doing the groceries this week. The sun was slowly disappearing behind the horizon leaving orange, red and violet glows across the sky. she looked up at the sky from the grocery store packing lot, 'Beautiful' she mused smiling but then her smile disappeared as the tiredness of her body and the promise of a long night reading cases took it's toll. she reached into the back seat grabbing her purse and then took off her jacket, leaving it on the back of the seat. long strides quickly brought her to the sliding doors and she entered, immediately heading towards the fresh produce section.

"Veggies, fruits?" she paused tapping her finger against her lips, head tiled upwards in thought, "oh right, mom wanted to make a fruit salad." she said softly. she moved to the apple stand and began choosing random apples she found appeasing.

"Ms. Hyuga?" a voice said behind her. Hinata sighed and then turned, this voice was not familiar. she was met with cobalt blue eyes, eyes she had seen before. blond hair, wait...

"Mr. Deidara." she said formally putting on a small smile. deidara smiled back. kami was giving him a second chance.

"Funny seeing you here, do you shop here regularly yea?" he asked moving towards the apple stand. he picked one up and smelled it, as he once again looked her over, this time she wasn't wearing her jacket, oh and now the view was much, much better.

"No," Hinata replied, noticing his roaming eyes, " just making a small stop." she then continued to put some apples into a bag, this time more haphazardly, as she was trying to finish quickly.

noticing her obvious frown, deidara decided to play the concerned friend card, "tough day?"

"Very" she replied, moving to the peach stand, deidara followed suit. 'and it's getting worse.' hinata thought feeling his presence behind her once again. deidara reached for a peach and once again brought it up to his nose, " ummm, this smells fresh..." he began but then was cut off.

"how would you know?" an unidentified voice said from the opposite aisle. deidara's eyes flew up, searching for the perpetrator, then his face broke into a smile.

"Itachi, man what you doing here un?" he asked reaching for the other's hand and then bumping their shoulders together in a way that was very common among young males. hinata moved down the stands away from the two individuals hoping to swing into the bakery isle before her absence was noticed. deidara moved from the aisle with hinata and into the other.

"Man, am working a piece of meat here, you should see it, H.O.T.T, i mean she's like living art. man if she was a mom, she would be a MILF." he whispered though it was a little too loud since hinata heard. she stood there appalled, 'what the fuck!?' she thought.

deidara moved back into the aisle with hinata, with his friend no far behind. she knew he was there but was too shocked to even look up.

"Itachi i would like you to meet a friend of mine." he said loud enough to get hinata's attention, "Ms.Hyuga, this is..."

"friend?" hinata asked cutting him off. deidara looked over at her confused. " i believe a _friend_ is a person whom one knows and with whom one has a bond of mutual affection. mutual." she continued. "I don't think am your friend, Mr. Deidara, this is only the second time i've seen you in my entire life, _you_ are not my friend." she concluded, wearing an obvious frown. deidara looked a little confused but then tried again

"Acquaintance?", 'soon to be lover?' he thought

HInata's smiled at his petty comeback, "nope, i don't even know you in the slightest, in fact i would be wrong if i said i knew anything more than you name." she said moving to an another fruit stand. deidara stared at her strangely while itachi smirked.

"cool friend you got there." he said sarcastically turning and leaning on a close fruit stand, crossing his arms across his chest. hinata moved her line of visions away from deidara and to the other male. This individual had a jet black hair unlike his golden blond friend, and his features just screamed male, also unlike his companion. his eyes where closed and hiss countenance was just set in an almost seemingly relaxed frown. his clothes amplifing his overall masculine look and hinata had to admit he was pretty attractive.

"am not his _friend_ remember?" she said calmly, reaching for her basket to leave.

"oh yes i do, i mean you did explain it in such a way that even a four year old would have understood, i think it's called _immature_." he said in a rather monotonous tone, drawling out the last word. hinata's vision darkened. ' how dare he!' she thought

"if only people would mind their out business." she said shaking her head in disbelief. "in the context where one comments on things directly related to them?" she said with a slight smirk of her own. itachi performed a humorless chuckle and then looked in her direction, finally opening eyes. hinata gasped slightly, they were cole black and emotionless. he stared at her for a second more and then walked up to where deidara was standing, his face impassive.

"you're right" he said "you're absolutely right, but then again i got better things to do than stand in a grocery store and bicker. you know bicker, an argument over a petty or trivial matter." he continued a look of satisfaction on his face when he saw hinata's develop into an even deeper frown. "see ya later Deidara" and with that he disappeared from view.

hinata was fuming, ' he had the nerve!' her fist clench at her side and her annoyance soon increased to a booming headache.

" um, i guess i'll see you around. Ms. Hyuga." deidara said as he also took his leave. hinata looked at he's retreating back, only then being once more aware of his presence. her thoughts were flooded with a certain male, one with jet black hair and eyes to match. rubbing her temples once more to ease the pain, realization dawned, her day had just turned a lot worse.


	3. Reliability

disclaimer: I, of course, do not own naruto

stuff i forgot in the first two chapter:

- this is my first fanfic, soo please be gentle

- "..." - speaking, '...' - thinking

-hinata is very much OCC but it's all in tune with the plot, hoping there is one

- Oh and if you feel like it which i hope you do please review/ flames are accepted (comme si comme sa), i would love to know my mistakes.

(to demon child - since you asked for it)

thank you and enjoy.

noises in the night

Hinata arrived home just after nine-thirty to a brightly lit house. her parents were sitting on the large couch in-front of the television, looking at the immensely interesting lives of animals in different habitats and survival conditions, better known as National Geographic. coming in through the back door, she placed the bags of groceries on the table, then emitting a sigh of relief she left the kitchen for her bedroom.

"Alot of traffic hun?" her father's voice interrupted her retreat into her very own self proclaimed lair. hinata stopped and retraced her steps back into the family room, flopping down in an all but lady like manner into her favorite over sized bean-chair. both of her parents looked at her strangely as to the way she sat, she just shrugged.

"Yea, well not entirely but yes, traffic, right." hinata said while taking a glimpse as to what they were watching, but when she say a great white rip a dolphin in half, she was suddenly uninterested. Poor flipper. returning her gaze to the other two individuals in the room, she noticed that her mother was once again looking at the television but her dad was looking at her intensely. hinata gulped and then took a steading breath.

"Traffic huh?" he said softly. hinata's mind was reeling. she always had this thing with her father, where a simple white lie suddenly seemed like the greatest sin. she told her head to nod but then her heart told in to shake in the negative, so she was left with her head going in weird circles. Mr. Hyuga raised on elegant eyebrow at her antics and a small smile placed on his lips.

"You should go change hinata." he finally said when he noticed the deep turmoil she was in.

"H-Hai." she said, her dreaded stutter returning once again. unconscious to her, her index fingers were twirling around each other in nervous circles as-well. she smiled, bowed and then almost sprinted to her room. Mr.Hyuga's smile grew as he leaned down placing a small kiss on the top of his wife's head.

"You did that on purpose, Hiashi." his wife said looking up at him. his face broke into a grin.

"I did not!" he said, his eyes shinning with amusement. Mrs. Hyuga sighed looking away.

"You do know how long it took for her to loose that stutter, you just like to torture the poor child." she said matter-of-factly. Hiashi's vision also moved to the television, still smiling.

"I just think she looks adorable when she's so nervous, and though she's all grown up now, she'll always be my little Stumbler." his eyes moved back to the woman wrapped up in the blanket at his side, using his hand he lifted her head towards him, nuzzling his cheek against hers, he whispered "And I'd always thank you for her." With that said, his lips met hers.

hinata was in her bedroom, pacing, mumbling to herself. when did she ever let such a petty matter get to her soo much. she was out of her suit and wore a loose robe, intending on taking a hot shower, a thought that was leaning towards a bath more and more as her rambling continued.

"_better things to do than stand in a grocery store and bicker_", the words kept repeating themselves in her head, she didn't bicker, she never did, her friends yes, but hinata? No, she never bickered. clearly the events of the past few hours had left her mind . The nerve of that man.

hinata stopped in her pacing and moved to the room adjoining hers. Yes, this really did call for a bath, a long luxurious Victoria's Secret bath oil soak. she reached into a cupboard and removed a small bottle, titled "Midnight Rendezvous." she poured some into the already filling bathtub and then replaced the bottle. she rid herself of her robe and then pinned up her hair before she moved into the water. soothing was an understatement to the relief she felt, just her in this room, just her in this house, just her in this world, just her and this wonderful sensation of calm. just her and no mysterious dark haired men, with dark eyes that intrigued her, that enticed her. shaking her head slightly, she got her thoughts back on track. Herself and the tranquility. Yes, everything was unflustered, everything serene.

Briiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnngggggggggggg

Hinata almost jumped out of her skin, shrieking loudly she realized it was the phone. she reached out of the water pulling the receive to her ear,

"Hello" no answer, she repeated it and had the same result. this had better not be a prank call.

"Hello!" she almost scream, just then a voice spoke up.

"Geez hinata, you don't have to yell, i think i've gone deaf in my right ear, thanks alot doll." the voice said, hinata could almost hear the pain in it.

"Naruto? is that you?" she asked, "oh, gomen Naruto." she apologized. inner hinata laughed evilly, 'now you know how it feels.'

"Ah, no prob, hey when you're gonna get here? everyone's already here, well almost every one, there are a few people here who weren't even invited, i mean i see some guys and chicks here, i've never seen before, ever, believe it!, even kakashi's here, kakshi's always late, you're later than kakshin-sensei hinata" he screamed, hinata held the phone away form her head, not intending to get hearing aids before she was even thirty. the speaker continued "fashionably late finished half an hour ago hinata, where are you?" hinata smiled, she could almost hear the pout in naruto's voice.

"I'll be there in fifteen minutes" she said but when the other let out another whine, she countered "okay, next ten minutes" she said smiling. she placed the phone back unto the base and then stood from the water, she sighed, her bath was just cut short. she didn't bother to tell naruto that she had no idea of what he was talking about, because by doing that, it would just have led into another long explanation, so she decided just to go. anyways anything with naruto was fun, or illegal, or leading to charges, sometimes they were fun illegal activites which ultimately lead to someone or another pressing charges, but hey this was naruto, everyone wanted to hang out with him or when the time was relevant put the blame on him. reaching into her closet, she pulled out a simple jeans and pulled it on, she slipped on her plain black flip flops and then started searching for a top. she settled on a plain white Tee which had an over sized neck line which rested on her shoulders, exposing them. it also had a single black rose off to the side. she let her hair down and right after putting on some lip-gloss, the engine of her car roared.

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	4. Interest?

Disclaimer: I do not own naruto. Period.

um, diedara might be a little OCC

do do review, please?

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All but a chance encounter

The music and lights of the party were noticeable all the way down the block. as hinata drew closer to the destined house, a wry smile formed on her lips, it seemed that the neighborhood was dead, the only house which seemingly had occupants was naruto's. she tried to hold it in but lost and a small mocking laugh escaped her lips as she drove pass one specific house. the owner was the culprit of nearly getting almost her entire circle of friends incarcerated...because of a halloween party...in july. it was fun, naruto had woken up extra bubbly and just had to throw a party, where did the theme come from you ask? look at the color of his favorite suit, need i say more? The man had called neighborhood watch on them but then that happened so much times that the neighbors just grew tired of their tattle-tailed ways and decided to have 'family night out' or ' lets visit your parents' or ' lets eat out tonight' or 'lets just go somewhere away from here' whenever the said blond was in the partying mood. hinata slowed getting in the drive way and stopped her car next to a black Mustang. there were few cars there, which meant that alot of people would be sleeping off the booze in inconspicuous places of the noted house.

walking up the small steps she opened the door and walked in, passing through the kitchen and into the study, she made her way to the back and then descended the stairs into the basement. when she opened the door she was greeted by blaring sound waves and her friends' bodies almost mushed together in one sea of dancing frenzy.

"Hinata!" someone screamed over the music getting the referred girl's attention suddenly. she moved her line of vision in the direction from which the shout came and recognized one of a pair of beautifully tanned arms, the other of which soon joined in signaling her over. over the vastness of sweat, erratic motion and alcohol and proximity induced highs. hinata moved through the crowd towards the bar, now and then, whispering excuse me and pardon me, more as a result of habit since they fell on deaf ears.

"Finally! i thought you were bailing on us." naruto said hugging the girl. " i haven't seen you in ages, have you grown? did you cut your hair? no, you grew it out right? i don't know you look soo different, oh i know, i know." he said enthusiastically jumping up and down.

"she hasn't changed anything, dobe." said a voice from behind the bar. hinata looked in it's direction, though the tone and flat way it was spoken was eerily familiar.

"Hello, Sasuke." she said politely, smiling slightly, he nodded in response. but then the smile grew into a grin when she heard naruto whining.

"You're always such a fun kill, koi." he said smiling mischievously. hinata started to silently chuckle when she saw the slight blush creep over sasuke's face.

"I thought i told you not to call me that in public, dobe." sasuke sneered through clenched teeth, though the growing blush made it hard to believe he was actually pissed.

"What did you say?" naruto piped in seductively, moving dangerously close the other man. sasuke took a shaky step back away from the other, eyes wide, hands gripping unto the counter top,

" that we're in public..." he began slightly staggered but then reality kicked in and he got back his composure, "dobe." he said pushing the blond away.

"Hey, how come you get to call me dobe and i can't call you koi? huh? huh?" Naruto whined, looking at sasuke with squinted eyes as if to say, the older had a privilege he was yet to get himself.

"That's because I'm seme." the dark haired man replied in a soft whisper close to the other's ear, suddenly a fierce blush took root on naruto's face, hinata too was blushing. what was it with her today and hearing things which weren't meant to be heard by others. first some pervert's view of her and now a first class insight into the personal life of naruto and sasuke. she had to practice her non-eavesdropping abilities. Naruto suddenly mumbled something and moved away right after he shot sasuke a glare for the obvious smirk he was wearing. hinata looked from her retreating friend to the one behind the bar, and her blush only grew, she immediately diverted her attention to the floor, marveling at how amazing it was. sasuke looked at her and rose a questioning eyebrow, then shook his head in confusion.

"Usual?" he asked grabbing her attention once more. hinata scolded herself for once again reverting to her childhood customs. she was a grown woman damn it, grown women didn't blush and cower, well they did but they did it more discreetly. curse you ears.

she popped up unto one of the stools lining the bar and waited for her drink, while looking at the riveting bodies of her friends. she couldn't join them tonight, she still had three cases which were pending diagnosis and she had the morning shift tomorrow. suddenly she saw a flash of pink, Sakura?, then she saw it again.

'how does she do it?' she mused with a small smile following the other MD, with a schedule even more hectic than hers, enjoying the music. she then accepted the drink from sasuke, falling into small talk with him about his blond boyfriend.

Across the room, in a dark corner, worth only for the doing of evil or for dark characters who found comfort in brooding, _was_ a dark character comfortably brooding. he's friends were lost somewhere in the sea of perspiration and far too much physical touch than he knew to tolerate. why he had agreed to go along, was the thought constantly repeating itself in his mind, but the thing that plague he now was that of a woman he had only briefly meet, in a grocery store of all places. a woman who hadn't swoon over his extreme handsomeness or look of extreme wealth, no. she was the first to actually challenge him, small as it might have been, she was the first, female, wanting to hold her ground. intriguing was an understatement to the feeling he was presently having. a feeling which was very much unwanted. his mind was working overtime trying to figure out the cause, he had to. feelings, they were a weakness, a weakness he had promised himself of never having.

hinata was looking attentively at sasuke, how she hadn't noticed before was beyond her. he was almost a replica to the man from the grocery store, dark eyes, dark hair, pale skin and an almost naturally set emotionless mask. though sasuke was different in that; one, _he_ was her friend and two he smiled almost effortlessly around his blond love. the other man, what ever he's name was looked as though a smile would tear his face to pieces, if ever he tried one. sasuke was on the other side of the bar talking with kakashi about some perverted thing or another while she was staring so relentlessly at him. as soon as the older silver haired man moved away hinata waved sasuke over.

"hn?" he asked nonchalantly. all his friends had learned to understand that that single sound, in the Uchiha's dictionary had many many translations, and in this case was "yes, what is it?"

"sasuke, do you, do you have a brother?" she asked genuinely intrigued. but before he could answered something very unsuspected happened.

now am sure almost every one is familiar with the phrase 'speak of the devil and he will appear.' you know, when your mom and her sister are talking about the neighbor across the street and you the helpless bystander is looking at Bleach on YouTube and suddenly the door bell rings and your neighbor is standing there expecting to be let in, only when you do so your mom and aunt stare you daggers and mumble the stated phrase. well i heard in school while some friends were...well you get the picture. in hinata's case however, she was living it.

a dark figure suddenly appeared looming over the two conversing. sasuke was the first to notice since he was facing the newcomer.

"Itachi." he said formally giving a small nod of respect. a light bulb went off in hinata's head.

"Yes, that was he's name. Do you know him?" she asked and then added a mumbled "Bastard"

sasuke looked at her with a quizzical look, since the mumbled word was rather loud. and then tilted his head in the stranger's direction, who was now taking the seat next to hinata. " My brother." he simple said and then walked away, presumably to mix a drink.

Hinata froze, 'his brother?' she thought, man that was weird. she was just about to call sasuke back when someone spoke.

"Well aren't you court." she knew that voice, that sarcastic tone, that monotonous sneer. hinata's head moved on auto pilot to the man who was sitting next to her. yep, no doubt there, it was him.

"H-How long have y-you been here?" she forced out, very obvious of the bright red which was growing on her cheeks.

"Long enough to know that am a bastard." he replied looking at her from the corner of he eyes. his vision then moved to sasuke, who was bringing over a drink. he nodded accepting it and then took a sip before he continued. "from a person who doesn't even know me, not even in the slightest, i even believe this person doesn't even know my name, lots of info there to make an assessment I realize." he concluded taking another sip. hinata could clearly see the smirk behind the glass. he was mocking her.

she looked at him as he assumably ignored her, she was fuming, clearly this man's ego was as big as a country. she decided to stay calm.

"well then, what is your name, _fine sir_?" she asked in a sickening sweet voice.

sasuke's eyes grew tenfold as an amused smile found it's way to his lips. itachi's eye brow twitched and then rose surprisingly. he wasn't expecting that, a rude or witty remark yes, but this? he placed he's drink on the counter and told sasuke to go away with his eyes. yep, Uchihas were weird that way.

"Well, I'm..." he began before...

"Itachi Uchiha" said a red head, walking towards the bar. "Since when have you reentered the socializing world?" he said waving sasuke over, said individual was regretting volunteering to work the bar for this party, yes he had no intentions of mixing into the crowd of touchy feely people but doing a service was not what it looked like; easy. maybe Dj would've been better but then looking over at the number of girls surrounding Kiba, he thought different. nope he didn't want to be groped, especially by the opposite sex. he stopped in front the red head and nodded, ignoring the strange looks which were being shot between him and his older brother.

"Bourbon," the red head said, sitting, "i didn't know you had a brother Uchiha." he said as sasuke moved away to get his drink.

"Hn," itachi said picking up his drink. this was the first time someone had interrupted him while talking with a female that actually ticked him off. as weird and new as it was, he pushed it away and immersed his entire being to the burning sensation going down his throat. his eyes focused forward at nothing in particular and his face void of emotion.

hinata looked from the man next to her to the man next to him, his red hair was short and looked almost silky, his appearance though was surprisingly young. no more than a teenager but he held the air of one who had a lot of experience. he too was rather attractive, though the brooding, mysterious, only known to insult her Uchiha, as she had just recently learned, was more to the Hot side. just then a voice spoke, a voice she had learned to hate, spoke.

"Itachi man, dude you just disappeared. did you see the jugs on that... Mr. Sasori and Ms. Hyuga?" he said bending down to hinata's level. "what brings you here?" he asked smiling and taking the sit next to her. hinata picked up her glass and finding it empty, scowled.

"Know the hosts." she said calmly looking for sasuke behind the counter, he had disappeared. then she took a peek at her watch and squeaked. she hurriedly stood up and then looked into the crowd for the other blond male. with her back turned away looking into the sea of dancing individuals, deidara looked over at itachi making funny eye signs towards hinata and wearing a lewd grin. itachi looked at him with a disgusted face which then morphed back into one of indifference, what was getting into him, deidara had the right to drool over any girl he wanted, what made this one so special.

Sasori caught the smile and spoke up a comment, "Deidara, i would go home if i were you, inviting me to this party does not excuse you from work tomorrow." he said while sipping his drink.

deidara put on a small frown and then a wide grin, "doesn't that mean that you have to leave as-well?" he asked. sasori shot him a glare and then took a long swing of his drink.

"If am not mistaken, i would guess that I am the manager, am i not? arriving drunk to my own company is something i could most certainly do, you on the other hand..." he trailed off leaving the other to fill in the blanks.

Itachi was staring at the bottom of his cup and wondering why, why was he feeling so alone now that his female companion was no longer sitting next to him. why did he care anyway? why was he even having the convo in the first place? what was it about this girl? her black hair, her small pink almost always moist lips, and the tantalizing motion of her tongue in moistening them when they weren't? yes, he had been staring at her, in a very smart and unnoticeable way. the thing that intrigued him most were her eyes, their pale color, the way they darted all over, observing almost everything while in the same time being discreet, the look of annoyance which flashed in them when deidara approached and of panic when she saw her watch. and most of all the weird look that they were hiding something, something that so wanted to break free. yes, he was wondering why.

Hinata, finally seeing Naruto in one of the corners of the dance floor, talking with Iruka, walked over, squeezing through the crowd of people.

"Hey!" she shouted over the music, the two individuals looked at her and nodded, one with a huge grin, the other with a warm, familiar smile. she pointed to her watch and then to the door, wearing a sad smile of her own, she hugged the blond and mouthed 'See yah later' before repeating it with the brunette man, only differing in saying 'Nice to see you again.' she then started making her way back to the entrance. she saw sasuke and did a small wave. at first he looked confused and then realizing what she was saying waved back with a small smile.

Itachi was just about to order another drink from sasuke when he saw his brother smiling at someone across the room, he waved it off as nothing and waited to get sasuke's attention to himself.

Deidara had swung around in his seat, watching some girls dancing when he saw hinata making her way up the stairs.

"there goes a great catch" he said putting his glass back on the counter, "damn i love her sexy eyes." he concluded and then got up to pursue a brunette with hair cascading down her back.

Itachi, stood up suddenly, a little too suddenly as sasuke was bringing him his refilled glass. he nodded courtly at his younger brother and then turned to leave. sasuke looked at his brother confused and then saw him move towards to the basement stairs, a knowing smile formed on his face. looking over at his blond, soon to be announced, fiance and he wondered if his stoic brother would be as lucky as he was in finding love. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

please don't hate me for the naruto sasuke pairing. thank you for reading, so now make me feel happy and review.


	5. Dazed

Disclaimer: I do not own naruto. Period.

i also do not own the lyrics of the song 'Sunday morning' by Maroon 5.

do do review, please?

---

You?!

"_Sunday morning rain is falling, steal some covers __share__ some skin_

_clouds are shrouding us in moments unforgettable, you twist to fit the mold that i am in_

_but things just gets so crazy, living life gets hard to do,_

_and I would gladly hit the road, get up and go if i knew, _

_that some day it would lead me back to you_

_that someday it would lead me back to you_

_that may be all i need, in darkness she is all i see, come and rest your bones with me_

_driving slow on sunday morning and i never want to leave._

_fingers trace your every outline ..._"

Itachi promptly switched off the radio, he was enjoying the song yes, but it was invoking things in him that he didn't even know were present. he switched his system to classical music and relished in the monotonous routine he did every morning going to his place of employment. he pulled into the parking lot of the architectural firm and reached into the back seat of his car to get his brief case. fixing his jacket he began walking towards the building.

"hahaha, what brings you here itachi?" came a voice from behind him. he didn't turn.

"Good morning to you too, Kisame." he said continuing to walk towards the entrance.

"hmm, i wonder what might be bothering the great itachi uchiha." kisame said with great fanfare. "if i remember clearly, the last time i saw you here on a sunday was...hmmm, when your cousin got into that accident."

itachi's grip on his briefcase tightened, he stopped dead in his tracks. kisame continued.

"that was a pretty big deal, and well, i got it that you needed to drown yourself in work in an attempt to stifle the pain, having that wonderful personality you have..., but what brings you here today is the question, he didn't die did he." he said laughing, kisame was just insensitive like that.

"No, he didn't die." itachi said in a low tone and started walking again. kisame ran up to him and started walking in pace with him.

"So, why are you here?" he asked grinning

"what do you care?" itachi shot back.

"Hey, can't answer a question with a question." kisame started whining, itachi smiled at his small victory but it didn't last long. " well if you **must** know, i care about you little partner." he said tapping the shorter man on the head, wearing a toothy grin. if it had been anyone else, itachi would have guessed that they had no more use for their right hand and would've rid them of it, free of charge of course, but it was kisame and even though, being as insensitive as he was, itachi knew he was genuine in his efforts to help his little partner. itachi scowled, he wasn't little, not in the least. kisame was just abnormally huge.

"we have the Suna account to finish, thought i would advance a little over the weekend." he replied pushing the doors open. kisame followed. they both walked into the lobby of the building. The receptionist, a tall evenly tanned woman was speaking with one of the security guards, her back towards them. itachi couldn't control it, his eyes were drawn to her long black hair, it looked so similar, so similar to... then he saw her roots and scowled deeper, no not even close. they walked into the elevator and started ascending to their destined floor, on which itachi had planned to go to the darkest corner, brood and feign work. why couldn't he do this at home? well, one- there he would be tempted to have others' presence and be forced to go to his friends', something he wasn't really up to, two- his mother always miraculously showed up unannounced on sundays, three- he needed to pretend to be doing something, what was the point of pretending if you're by yourself and four- he had to go into the city anyways so why not just leave a tiny bit early, like say 7 hours. yep, he had reason to be there.

"So, who is she?" kisame suddenly said breaking the silence. all of itachi's muscles tightened.

"W-what?" he asked in a small voice, he was met by kisame's laughter. he then drastically grabbed on the little self pride he had left. "Who is who?" he asked in a more emotionless tone. kisame continued laughing and then stopped, still wearing a huge grin,

"i saw you looking at that receptionist, didn't think i saw did ya?" he said. itachi scowled, wishing that the 23rd floor would just manifest itself right then, so he would get out of that convo. kisame had this uncanny gift of looking beneath the surface when it came to him and this wasn't something he really was keen on sharing. it was too..too embarrassing.

"i know you itachi and the only way for you to have an opinion on something is if you have something to compare it to, now unless the receptionist had done you some great harm, i would guess that you have another woman in mind to which you compared her, and judging by the glare you sent her way, she failed miserably. so now, who is she?" kisame said rather light heartedly. itachi scowled deeper, was he that obvious, damn it.

"No one." he said exiting the elevator, kisame followed close behind.

"Oh, is that right. well we'll see." he said walking down the hall. "see ya around, little partner, oh and you know we finished the Suna account, last week right." he shouted over his shoulder before he entered his office. itachi stood there staring at the empty hallway.

"Kuso," he murmured before entering his own office. he really should have just stayed home.

o.o.o.o.o.o

hinata was late, no late was an understatement to how far behind she was. late was half an hour ago, now, she was bordering on 'Your personal effects are on the front desk, after three days, if not collected, they will be disposed of.'

"Move! god damn-it." she shouted to the car in front of her, she was honking her horn loudly, cursing down plague after plague on the occupant of the car, but when a scared old lady stuck her head out of the window, hinata scolded herself from that traffic light all the way to the hospital packing lot. the moment her car stopped she grabbed unto her bag and her shoes,and then made a B-line towards the entrance, her hair every where. she burst into the door, flashed a nervous grin to the scowling receptionist, bid her good morning and then dashed towards the elevator. some really could be scary if they tried.

'okay, get off, get to the lockers, fix hair, do rounds.' she thought, simple really, once no authority figure sees her come in, she would be in the clear, cause if they asked where she was, doing rounds was self explanatory. the elevator stopped and hinata blindly rushed out but then she saw someone standing in the hall ahead, she tried to stop, really she did, it was just futile. falling to the ground she found that she was on two very squishy cushions. hey, today might have just been her lucky day. then she saw blue eyes, blond hair and a vein throbbing on the other's forehead. not lucky, not lucky. not even close.

Tsunde-hime! Tsunde-hime's breasts! am on tsunde-hime! tsunde-him's monstrous strength!

hinata jumped off, cowering on the other side of the hallway. oh how she wished to be swallowed up by the ground right now, but kami had it out for her. she turned quickly trying to sneak away.

"Hinata!" came the soft voice from the fuming blond, tsunde was never soft, such a drastic change in character would have scared the strips of a tiger. hinata gasped, but then turned around slowly.

"Am soo sorry, tsunde-hime, i-i totally wasn't looking at where i was going. please accept my apology." she said meekly, looking at her mentor and manager with fear filled eyes. tsunde signed, then began dusting herself off. she wasn't one of the top three most respected people in that town for noting, a little tumble wouldn't frazzle her features. no way.

"hai hai, now what are you doing here?" she asked, looking herself over in a nearby window.

"well i work here." hinata said, 'i still work here right' she thought, dreading her teacher's response.

"i know you work here, i mean what are you doing here, in this hallway. aren't you suppose to be on rounds today? hinata are you skipping out?" he voice had suddenly become cold, tsuande-hime was one who very much hated swindlers.

"oh no, well not exactly, you see i was suppose to start before but then i wouldn't say that i had been trying to get out of it, actually i like doing rounds very much and..." she was tripping over her own words. she looked up at tsunde, her eyes pleading.

"Hinata, wait, breathe, now tell me." tsunde said walking up to the girl. she did as she was told.

"i was working on the Isarabi, shima and Gatsou case and kinda lost track of the time, and thats the reason i was coming in late today." well it wasn't a total lie, just not the total truth either. tsunde nodded and beckoned the girl to walk with her.

"hinata, i know work is important to you, but you got to get out there sometimes as well okay, go on dates and stuff you know?" she asked looking down on her latest apprentice. hinata nodded, was tsunde-hime giving her tips on socializing, the woman who was feared all over the city, interesting, it was. "now, you go get to your rounds and i expect to see those cases on my desk by the end of the day okay" she said walking towards the maternity ward.

"yes, tsunde-hime" hinata said turning to go to her locker. tsunde's voice stopped her.

"oh, i also expect a bottle of sake for breaking your fall this morning." she said over her shoulder.

'but you caused my fall.' hinata thought looking at the woman walking away. smiling she turned moving into the locker room. some things never changed.

o.O.o.O.o.O

itachi was in his car once again, scanning the radio channels in hope of finding that song he was listening to earlier. he didn't know why though, but the song had made him feel rather, alive, in a way that hadn't happened since he was a child. his personality and emotion were in touch with each other for that brief period and he had liked that feeling quite a lot. but his search bore no fruit. he shouldn't have been in his car anyways, damn kisame, kept bordering him, asking him over and over about this girl he had presumably taken a liking to. he didn't like any girl, and he didn't admit to not liking any girl either. ha, he out smarted kisame. well at least he could keep telling himself that until kisame proved him wrong. he turned into the parking lot of a small sweets shop and got out. walking into the store he ensured his mask of indifference was in place. it was sunday and just after 10 am, the store was overflowing with women, women of all ages. itachi walked towards the counter, ignoring the stares which were being sent his way, the girly giggles, the weird cat calls, the occasional 'Hey there stud.'annoyance did not express what he was feeling right now. long strides quickly brought him to the counter, he then nodded in acknowledgment to the clerk. she walked towards him, huge smile in place.

" Welcome to Dainty View" she said in a bubbly tone. " How may i help you today?"she winked at him and then licked her lips.

itachi looked at the girl as if she had grown a second head and had tentacles protruding from them. was she serious, that was soo obvious but then maybe she had intended to be.

"Two servings of mitarashi dango please." he said. the girl stood there looking him over, each time having a more lecherous gaze. "Today." he said in a tone of finality. the girl winked at him once more and then went to the back of the store. itachi stood there under the scrutinizing stares of the other women around him, this would be the last time he ever went into a sweet shop in daylight.

'please don't be overly presumptuous and approach.' he thought as he saw a young lady rise form her seat to his left. she stared walking towards him, her waist swinging seductively, or what suppose to be seductive he assumed, he was not impressed. she had red hair and dark eyes, pretty good looking really, just not his type. wait, what?! he didn't have a type. scolding himself mentally, he prepared for what would have been an unwanted encounter. but kami was on his side today so when the wind chime sounded the entrance of a new customer getting the ladies attention for just a moment, itachi all but grabbed the bag from the clerks hand, chuck her the money, mumble keep the change and then casually yet hurriedly walk out the store.

"You're going to pay, Shisui." he mumbled before hopping back into his car and driving off, little did he know of the number of broken hearts he had left in his wake.

o.o.o.o.o.o.o

it was just after 11 am when hinata finished her rounds, surprisingly there were few people in the clinic that day and those who were, were remarkably helpful and understanding. today was a good day, she was just coming back from dropping of the three cases in Tsunde's office when she ran into Ino.

"Hey, Hinata." the blond girl shouted, she was known for being loud, though naruto held the record.

"Hey." hinata replied smiling brightly, it had been a while since she'd seen ino, said girl had just come back from her honeymoon. "How are you, little ms. i got to go get married before any of my friends does." she said laughing, ino joined her.

"Well" ino began grinning, "is it my fault that you and sakura are too caught up with patients to even notice guys." she turned her head suddenly, flipping her hair like a well groomed dignitary. "plus, the only way to ensure you two didn't try to steal my little pumpkin was to have him all to myself." she said hugging herself for extra effect.

"Little pumpkin? hmmm, i don't know if we're talking about the same guy here, i mean the last i saw of chouji, he wasn't no **little** pumpkin." hinata said smiling wide but squeaked when ino punched her in the arm.

"Hey!" the blond shouted, grin still in place.

"what? it's not like am lying about anything, everyone knows..." she ran away from the blond laughing when she saw a fist coming towards her again, "okay okay, he's you're little pumpkin." she rather shouted in surrender.

" well, i got to get out of here," ino said, finally regaining her composure, her grin and giggles dwindling down into a smile, "they're having this buffet at the "Amore Letouve" and Chouji's been invited to be a featured chef, but am going to be late, i got this last patient.." she glanced down at her watch, "Fuck shit, am already late."

hinata frowned at the nervous panicked look which crossed her friend's face, just a moment ago, she was smiling and laughing, perfect picture of a newlywed. she couldn't resist

"I'll do it." she said smiling, "You're late and i know how much you want to be there for chouji, so i'll take the case."

"Oh god, really?!" ino almost shouted, eyes pleading

"No, i was only joking," the look on ino's face was priceless, hinata burst out in a fid of giggles and then ran out of the way as a fist was again sent her way.

"You, you!" ino fumed, though her smile threatened the sun in brilliance. she fished into her back pack and pulled out a file, looking up at hinata she was greeted with a nod. "Ok, he's a paralysis patient, he's been here for five years and has been improving greatly, the chances of him walking again have risen from 40 to 87." she began reading the file. hinata grabbed it out of her hands.

" i can read that on my way there, now you go, go, go." she said shooing the girl away. ino started walking away and then turned prancing on the other girl.

"thank you, thank you, thank you." she said before kissing the girl on the cheek and then turned running out the door. " oh and i'll get you a doggy bag if there's anything left." she called over her shoulder wearing a mischievous grin.

hinata couldn't help but smile back. she looked down at the file in her hands, one thing jumped out. racing down the hall, she saw ino just entering the elevator.

"Ino, what's he's name?" she shouted,

" um, don't know the full thing, everyone just calls him Shisui." she shouted back, there was a quick wave and the elevator door closing.

'Shisui.' she thought ' what an eerie name'

" well, here i come shisui." she said moving towards the stated.

hinata was nearing her destination when she noticed two trainees in front of one of the observations rooms, giggling and staring into the room.

'well that's weird' she thought, continuing on her way. she signed in for ino at the receptionist for that particular ward and then moved towards the door. the two girls were still there. suddenly they looked at each other and then into the room once again before hurrying away. 'saw something you didn't wan to see huh?' hinata thought smirking, this amateurs, anything frightened them.

"no. 1734" she said softly entering the room, she was looking over the file and noticed that this individual only came in for weekly checkups but other than that was at home. he had progressed well over the years and now was even able to walk around with the help of a small cane, though it was only for a little while. his progress report always had little quotations on the side saying 'very hansome' or 'hard worker' or 'dedicated'. she was beginning to like him already, from paralysis to short strolls, he really must have been a hard worker.

"Good morning, Mr.Shisui" she said looking up, then she stopped dead in her tracks, the file falling out of hands unto the floor. the one thing which had pestered her that entire night was sitting there staring back at her.

'OMFG' was the only thing that went through her mind.

"Why hello there, Ms.Hyuga was it?" came an amused voice piercing into her suddenly clogged consciousness. she blinked and then did it a again, very aware of the redness which was prominent on her cheeks. hinata took a deep breath regaining her composure. she bent down slowly picking up the file but when her eyes once again fell on the room's two occupants, she immediately regretted it. placing the the file on the bed she stalked over to the two men and took one by the arm dragging him away.

itachi saw hinata coming over but it did surprise him somewhat when she grabbed him by the arm and pulled him up, her hand felt soft on his arm, soft and warm, it sent a tiny tingling feeling through out his entire body. no, he did not expect her to make physical contact but he actually liked it, very much too. he gladly followed

shisui was a little more than surprised, here was this beautiful woman, first time he had seen her, walk into the room and grab his cousin by the arm like it was as normal as getting the paper in the morning, and though her boldness was quite a shocker the thing that took the cake was the fact that itachi let her touch him. he let her, he didn't protest in any way, he just got up and walked away with her, just like that was as normal as sunrise as well. now this had to be a result of two rather farfetched changes in the younger uchiha male, one - he was getting soft and let himself be caught in the snare of some woman, having to obey her very whim, but then again hinata was not just some woman, shisui had to admit, she was off the charts, he had only had a glance but it was enough for him to thanks the heavens for sending him an angel. he definitely would request a full body check up.

but if option one wasn't the case then two - this woman had found a way to put the fear of her wrath in the man, which was even more unlikely than his friend kakashi having a porn free weekend, hell a porn free hour, the man was obsessed.

thus leaving him with only one last option, itachi must really like this girl and if that was the case, it meant his little cousin was holding out on him. shisui smiled the classic uchiha smirk and awaited their return.

"why are you following me?" hinata asked through clenched teeth. she peered up at the man, only getting angrier with the amusement she saw there.

"Me? i have done no such thing." itachi said, smirk still in tow. he liked to see her angry, the way her cheeks got flustered made her look so adorable. yes, he was in the moment, thoughts were going wild.

"Then what are you doing here?" she asked looking at him attentively, hoping to be able to detect any lie.

"Well, i just came to visit my cousin." he said simply, searching her eyes for sudden shock or surprise. he was rewarded.

"He's you're cousin." hinata said, she couldn't believe it, " he's a uchiha," she said looking up at itachi, he nodded the affirmative. "Then why does he come here for check ups, i mean that family is rich, am sure a private doctor would have been more convenient." she began mumbling to herself.

itachi tensed at the mention of his family, he lost all amusement, the foreign fluttery feeling in the pit of his stomach died and his features moved back to stoic.

hinata, feeling the sudden change in the air around them looked up at him but when meet with his cold, emotionless eyes, she reverted her gaze, though what shook her to the center of her being was the fact that she had felt him tense, her eyes travelled to her hand which was...

'oh my god, am touching him.' she thought, blushing madly, suddenly she saw how pretty the floor was and decided to continue their conversation with her line of vision focused there. she couldn't just let go, that would look just too embarrassing on her part, it had to be subtle and unprompted.

"So, you come here often?" she asked. at first itachi was confused when he realized his focus was to the top of her head.

"No." he said purposely, hoping she would look up at him, he smirked when he saw her head start to rise but then stopped in line with his chest.

"First visit?" she asked, the heat on her face was decreasing but wasn't yet all gone, she couldn't risk a quick glance, it would be too embarrassing.

"I come when shisui's here." he said, already getting tired of her little game but in actuality he genuinely missed her eyes.

"I see," hinata said calmly. her hand began to slowly slip away from it's grip on the mans arm until it was once again beside her. finally she looked up at him, confident her face was blush free.

"well, Mr. Uchiha, i'll be attending your cousin today." she said before walking back into the room and towards the other man. little did she know of the effect she had on the younger of the two.

itachi was frozen, he didn't know by what force or by what means but he knew, that at the present moment he wasn't able to move. the friction created as her hand slid from his arm, as invisible as it might have been, rocked him to the core. his heart beat had increased rapidly and at the same time slowed down to a snail's pace. said palpitations were leaving him short of breath and now he was fighting to feign normalcy. the fluttery feeling in the pit of his stomach had returned tenfold and threaten to cause an emotional breakdown. his vision was blurry and fading rapidly, it was like he was being sucked into a vortex of uncertainty.

'what is this feeling?" he asked himself, reaching for the wall in front of him, he tried to steady himself since his feet had long forgotten that particular ability.

hinata was back in the room when she realized itachi hadn't followed, she turned,

"Mr. Uchiha?" she said to his back, she saw that his head hung over and was about to ask what could have been the matter when he turned around and reentered the room. brushing pass her to again sit next to his cousin. she brushed it of as nothing and decided to do what she was intended of.

the rest of the examination went smoothly. hinata finished quickly and praised shisui on the great progress he was making. she even agreed on his offer on jogging for a charity event soon, he really was a pleasant man. the only thing which was different to other examinations were the little glances sent between the examiner and the patient's relative. itachi was being very subtle about it. anytime hinata would have her head turned or be too deep in conversation to notice, he would steal a peek at her, trying to pinpoint the root cause of his little mental spasm before. hinata on the other had was sending the uchiha glares and looks of slight interest and confusion. she hated the positions he put her in, always having to doubt herself and not being able to control her emotions when he was around was not something she was very fond of. what was it about this man.

itachi too was wondering what it was about her, that made him want to know more, he wanted to know everything about her, every little detail. like the way she smiled, in that soft,oh soo feminine way and yet hold an air of being in control was beyond him, she intrigued him, fascinated him, excited him, aroused him. he wouldn't admit it out loud but she did make him feel all warm and fuzzy in a specific section of his anatomy. something he knew he had killed, or well from since now, thought he had killed a long time ago.

it all happened when shisui had offered to share his dango with her and because she seemingly had an addiction to them she had accepted. itachi watched as she raised the small stick with her fingers and then brought them to her mouth, the sweet sauce dripping unto her fingers and running down them to her palms. the squeak which was emitted from her mouth was almost melodious to his ears and the small giggle she shared with shisui made him close his eyes in bliss. when he reopened them he wished he hadn't. hinata was swirling in tongue around the small round treat, in a completely innocent way but it looked so so naughty to him. his throat suddenly became dry and he had to force his eyes away as he reached for the jug of water and the glass which were on the dresser next to him. after finishing drinking the water, he accidently got the attention of his cousin. the man was staring right back at him. itachi rose a questioning eyebrow but when his cousin tilted his head in hinata's direction, itachi looked over. he had never known one's throat could become parched in less than a few seconds elapse but when he say hinata he felt that effect. hinata's eyes were closed in the sheer delight of the treat and she was just chewing away in her bliss, the movement of her mouth sending pangs through out the uchiha's body, then the worst happened. she stuck one finger in her mouth and began sucking on it, itachi looked on, mesmerized. the first finger left and then a second took it's place. ever so often a pink appendage could be seen swirling around the fingers and palms licking up the sweet juices. itachi's mouth feel open just slightly as he followed it's movement. he was a goner, that was for sure.

hinata laughed at her silliness as she continued to lick up the juices on her hand, that dango must have been the best she had ever tasted, she didn't want anything to go to waste. she made eye contact with shisui and her eyes closed in amusement at his chuckle but when her eyes fell on the room's other occupant, she nearly jumped out of her skin. itachi was staring at her, it was like he was in a trance. his mouth was open and his eyes were glazed over. could he be sick? the medic in her immediately took over.

"Mr. uchiha?" she asked, moving her hand from her mouth. it was then she realized his line of vision was not at her face but her hand because when she called out to him, he jumped much like he had been ripped out of a midday stupor. said male quickly stood and moved to the window, looking out at the city.

'well that was weird' she thought reaching for a pile of tissues to clean up her hands. when she was finished she stood up and picked up the file. she bid shisui goodbye to which he told her the same but when she told the other male, all she was greeted by was a small grunt. typical, he _was_ sasuke's older brother. maybe it was just their side of the family though. bowing she left the room.


	6. Ah, grocery stores

Disclaimer: I do not own naruto. Period.

warning : contains sexual themes

-----------

Your effect on me.

Hinata got up with a start, her breath haggard and she was covered in a coat of warm perspiration. her eyes tried to focus on the things around her and when they finally did,her line of vision fell upon the digital clock on her makeup table. it was monday, that meant graveyard shift. she let a small groan of slash annoyance and satisfaction before she once again dove back in between her blankets, letting their warm embrace guide her to welcomed sleep and dreams of shoe sales, walks in the park, and the ever so frequent ones of dark haired men. or should that be man.

O.o.O.o.O

itachi was late.

itachi was never late, punctuality was the utmost of perfection, thus the result of his never **ever **being late. seven hours early, yes, but never late. Damn you shisui! the two had stayed up the majority of the night discussing nothing. nothing of importance, itachi had stressed this but his attempts to deter his cousin's intentions were futile. and this nothing he spoke of consisted of many things in relation to a certain violet eyed girl and her charming effects. they had agreed on the fact that itachi had a slight, to which itachi accentuated the slightness of the matter, crush on the young Hyuga female. itachi had been made to say her name out loud, without the ever present swear after it. apparently it was also discovered that he blamed the girl for him having these weird reactions to her, a theory to which shisui had a uncontrollable fit of laughter. itachi was just glad his misery was of humor to someone. cue sarcasm.

there was also confessions; Shisui, in the fact that he had purposefully given hinata the dango, because he knew how girls had a tendency of eating the treats. the response was passable - he was only threatened with castration. on Itachi's part, that he had had been jinxed. poor stoic souls. later it was discovered that his response to hinata's touch was just his body's way of payback, seeing as he had been bottling up all emotions what so ever from his past, well his entire life actually. his little sissy fit was just a response when they awoke from their sleep of almost non existence.

so, itachi had confessed his (slight) interest in hinata, and shisui was rather pleased with the results. but the moment he mentioned itachi getting in touch with his emotional feminine side, the younger male had gawked, scowled and then disappeared. so that was the reason itachi was now late in going to work; he had spent the night in a blanket of cold sweat from the mental images he had of himself in a dress, pouting and cooing with red lipstick and pink blush. it was, i assure you, very disturbing.

"Good Morning Mr. Uchiha." said a cheerful voice to his left. Itachi turned and glared. **what** was good about the morning? the receptionist suddenly became void of smile and cheer, she ducked her head behind the desk, hiding from the daggers being sent her way.

"So, you decide to show your face after all." kisame said, he had just caught itachi coming out of the elevator. the smaller man scowled deeper. kisame laughed, like he always did. looking over itachi, he noticed how haggard the man looked, his suit was firm pressed, yes but his features showed a troubled night's rest. there were two hug cole bags under each eye.

"Well, don't you look pretty." he continued laughing following itachi to his office.

"can i help you with something?" itachi said in a cold, humorless voice as he stared at kisame from behind his desk.

"well yes." kisame said grinning, "first, you can tell me what it was you were doing last night, dreams and fantasies included of course." he said looking at itachi intently. his grin didn't falter. it didn't phase itachi though, he stared back harder.

"don't you have work to do, Kisame?" he asked resting his head on his hands.

"Aww, come on little partner, it's more boring here than an amusement park in winter. so i got the whole day to bother you and the next, and the next and the next. well, you get the picture." he was now lying back on his arms which were crossed behind his head, eyes closed.

itachi's scowl deepened even further. if only he could glare a whole right through that toothy grin of his...

"Staring, wouldn't make me leave, little partner." kisame said raising his feet to the desk.

if only itachi could scowl any deeper it would have hit the floor,

"what do you want, kisame?" he asked, his voiced laced with no interest in the conversation what so ever.

" i _want_ to know, who she is?" kisame said opening one eye, his eyebrow crescent shaped in amusement. itachi closed his sighing, not this again.

"Who is _she_, to begin with?" he replied.

"well, who is this woman who occupies your thoughts at night, that is the She am talking about." kisame said, changing his sitting position so that now he was leaning forwards on his hands.

itachi smirked behind his hands, for the first time kisame was wrong. he was going to relish in the following moments.

"I, specifically have had not thoughts of any female over the past period in which one sleeps." he said slowly, "well except in the case of that female being my mother, for i am always on my guard against her, i thought you knew that, kisame?" he said with great satisfaction.

the look on kisame's face was priceless, it was a mixture of confusion, disappointment and shame. itachi liked that look, very much too.

"So, you're telling me you've had no thought of a certain violet eyed, dark haired medical attendant in the past 24 hours? or should that be in the past 'period in which one sleeps?'" kisame said.

itachi's smirk vanished, his jaw falling open just slightly. How?! cue kisame insensitive laughter. nope, no relishing here.

itachi tried to speak but the shock was too much, his mind was reeling. how could have kisame have known, he had to have followed itachi or this had to be some elaborate scheme which was concocted in the attempts of driving the poor Uchiha insane. unless...

"I can't believe you thought you were jinxed, little partner" kisame said in between fits of laughter. yes, itachi was presently the comic relief.

'Shisui! damn him.' itachi fought to regain his composure, sighing he pulled out a small note pad from the desk drawer and began flipping through it. the many thoughts of certain death to a certain older uchiha were successfully drowning out kisame's mocking laughter.

"So, you got the hots for the young Hyuga huh?" kisame said after his laughing fit was spent. itachi looked up at him glaring, that ever present grin was still in tow.

"I, have the hots for no one." he said finally, wishing the other man would leave or better, die from a split gut, result of too much laughing on a poor unsuspecting soul's expense.

"What's wrong, little partner, don't you know her name?" kisame said, fighting back giggles, " i mean, you did succeed in saying it last night no?"

itachi's scowl deepened, shisui was a dead man, he would make sure of it.

"How do you know these things?" he asked, just needing to have reason for the murder of his cousin. manslaughter was too light an offense, oh no, he had to calculate his approach, ensuring that as much pain and suffering would be experienced.

"Ah, so you admit eh." Itachi slapped himself mentally. That, was stupid. kisame continued.

"well lets just say i got people on the inside," he said in a soft whisper. leaning back in the chair, he crossed his arms over his chest, a satisfied grin in place.

"how long have you've been talking to Shisui?" itachi asked, truly interested.

"couple years now." kisame replied, " you're not the only uchiha i know, you know, your little brother is pretty interesting too but that boyfriend of his just annoys the shit out of me." he concluded with a falter in his smile. itachi smirked, yep, naruto sometimes had that effect on people.

"Well that was fun." kisame said sighing loudly, "what do you say we go for a ride?" he asked while standing and starting to do some light stretches.

itachi looked at the man in front of him. only kisame had the power to utterly embarrass someone, laugh at their embarrassment and then act like it never happened. he was a good man. a good man itachi thought, with evil evil ways.

"Why?" he asked a little skeptical.

"why? what do you mean why? find anything flipping through that little book of yours? we've finished all the accounts we have and are even discussing with the next companies on projects they themselves have yet to finalize. we're on fire yeah, but it's just that right now we're really just a spark. though, i've over heard that there'll be some big plans coming round about next week. so why not relish in the free time huh, little partner?" he said with a slight pout.

now if itachi was a softer man, he would have laughed at kisame's appearance but he wasn't, his face just maintained it's indifference. he didn't answer though, instead he just placed the book back into the drawer.

kisame punch the air in heated anticipation, "Yeah! riding ha ha ha ha!" he shouted before swinging his arm around itachi's shoulders, both walking out the door.

O.o.O.o.O

"Fuck you!" someone shouted in the distance before the loud sounds of traffic drowned out the voice. Hinata ignored the swearing man, her hand resting on the gear shift once again she shifted it into 5th, the car jerked forward as a new burst of energy flowed through the engine, the sudden movement was no really needed right now. a loud moan erupted from the back seat, followed by a groan and whispered words.

"take it easy." a male voice said, as hinata once again swerved around a car and back into her lane.

"We're almost there." Hinata said, focusing on how she would go about overtaking the wear down old station wagon in front of her.

"Arghhhhhh." roared a more feminine voice, after which the male once again came in ,

"It's okay honey, we're almost there, it's okay, it's okay." he said shushing her, his hand brushing against her cheek. sympathy shone through his eyes, as a small reassuring smile formed on his lips.

"It's hurts... so much, it feels so...bad, i can't...can't..." came a trembling voice, her eyes reflected the pain as tears flowed form them in two steady lines.

Shino looked down at his young wife, his heart breaking with every tear leaving her eye. he was just there, nothing more, the only help he could provide was his presence. the feeling of helplessness taking root in every inch of his soul, leaving him broken and wanting. he tried smiling at her but it only reflected what he felt inside. this pain she was going through alone was tearing him apart. he hated every inch of himself right then and there for ever thinking this was going to be a good thing.

Hinata peered into the rearview mirror and did a small examination on the woman in the back seat, she could clearly see the spasms going across her mid section ever so often, they seemed small, almost invisible, but she could only imagine the pain Ayame was in. a pain which was said to be indescribable with words. trying to imagine it was enough for her, hinata was not too fond of having a first hand experience.

passing another car which was preventing her from getting to the hospital in the shortest amount of time, her hand rested on the gear shift once again, her grip tightened and then dragged in downwards to 2nd as she approached a slight inclination. the engine roared and then speed up the hill, getting to the apex and over to the other side faster than she had thought possible to be within the law, but so far there were no sirens or trailing traffic police, therefore she was still in the clear.

hinata didn't mention it out loud but this racing was giving her quite a rush. the risk, the danger, the chance of being caught; it all boaster her adrenaline into overdrive, leaving her with a feeling of height. a feeling similar to that of the one she once had in college when she had joined her friend at a club notorious for their freedom of 'smoking weed atmosphere', she hadn't part took of course, but she still felt that unnatural rush of happiness and slight paranoia just by being in their presence. it was the same thing she was feeling now and though it shouldn't have been, she was beginning to like this feeling.

a loud scream brought her out of her thoughts and back into the present as she remembered the woman in the back seat. risking a quick glance, a frown escaped her facade of calm as she saw the concerned look on her friend's face.

shino was hunched over ayame, his face a chiseled calm but his eyes flashed fear, ...concern, ...insecurity. said woman was lying back, her breaths haggard and coming out in large huffs, her brow glistened with fresh perspiration and her face was that of pain, unimaginable pain. hinata's frown deepen and looked forward once more shifting the car back into fifth. she need to get there, and she needed to get there now.

o.o.o.o.o.o

kisame stumbled into the company bath rooms, barely standing straight, he fell into the indoor hot spring with a large splash. itachi scowled a safe distance away as the water fell on the floor in front of him.

"Ahhh" kisame sighed, as he submerged himself in the soothing water. he wadded over to the nearest end and placed his shoulders over the edge as he leaned his head back in sire pleasure.

"come on in, the water's fine." he said abusing the cliche mercilessly. he turned his head in itachi's direction, seeing his still standing form at the entrance.

"not in the mood." he said in an emotionless tone walking towards the shower stands. kisame waved him of and then sighed,

"suit yourself." he said before sliding deeper into the water while a small moan of comfort escaped his lips.

itachi walked into the shower, letting the robe fall from his shoulders unto the floor. he turned on the shower and then watched as the heat clouded the glass door and coated the tiled walls. the refreshing feeling washing over his body as his pores opened caused him to close his eyes to deepen his sense of touch. he leaned forward slightly, resting one hand on the wall in front of him, the water falling down his shoulders, in massaging beads of pleasure.

itachi's mind began to relax, it had every right to. work was presently at a slight stand still and kisame was right in taking advantage of the present times. all work left his thoughts, followed by trivial worries about his house and related chores. his mind was blank, void of worries. void of anything. his mental picture was that of a large blank canvas. the clear white comforting, just the blankness and nothing more. nothing, and nothing sometimes was refereed to as being black. yes like that of a black hole, a place where nothing returns once it enters. soon enough his once white canvas had black strokes, but the pondering uchiha, failed to notice.

black was such a beautiful color, so universal and so calming. it did give off an aura of evil but that was for the people who had yet accepted it's wonderful benefits to say. poor ignorant fools. it was his favorite color, a color he would defend with as much as three paragraphs of speech. which was pushing it. and sometimes, his thoughts continued, sometimes the black color was highlighted with colored hues, the most popular of those violet. violet, it was such enticing color, it was bright yes but the lighter shades were rather fascinating as well. they too had a calming affect. itachi was still contemplating his 'calming colors' when his pictured hue of violet suddenly morphed into a light pink shade. abruptly, he was ripped out of his thoughts.

'Pink?!' he thought in slight apprehension. pink was not a color he liked in the least, what the hell was he thinking about. shifting his position in the shower, so that now the water was washing over his face, itachi tried to trail he previous train of thought but couldn't remember what it was about. he relaxed once again under the water, loving the feeling it presented, it was foreign and new, a feeling which might have escaped when he had his little 'episode' yesterday, but despite the fact that this was an unwanted annoyance, he was rather enjoying it's presence. it felt like a warmt in the pit of his stomach, which spread rapidly in both directions. soon enough, it was crawling up his shoulders and embracing his neck. itachi couldn't stop the small moan which escaped his lips. leaning forward again, he fought the carnal urges which were steadily building inside him. closing his eyes, he intended on forcing the feeling into his subconscious when he saw a flash of white with dark splashes over it. closing his eyes tightly, he focused on the mental picture. black, yes, long black strands, of what? hair! of course, long black strands of hair, with light, almost invisible violet orbs, orbs which looked like eyes. itachi's hand unconsciously left his side and began to slowly make it's way down his hip. he blanked out the outside world as he focused even more on the image. black hair with violet eyes, yet the image had not defining features. unexpectedly, the white darkened into a pale cream, a sort of flawless shade of off white. itachi's hand crawled forward until it met it's intended destination, closing softly against his member. itachi looked at the picture again, it was bald but beautiful, a soft moan once again found it's way on his lips as his hand, unknown to him, began moving ever so slowly. once more there was a flash of pink splashing itself over the image, now recognizable as a face. now there were cheeks and small moist lips. itachi gasped. it was her. suddenly he opened his eyes, letting out the breathe he didn't know he was holding, which was immediately followed but a loud moan.

standing up straight, itachi looked down at himself, scowled and then reached for the faucet head.

"Kuso!" he murmured before he turned the one branded with a huge "C".

o.o.o.o.o.o

hinata smiled at the retreating couple, Ayame was in a wheel chair and Shino was right there beside her. as they descended down the hallway, shino looked back and gave her a small smile and nod. hinata returned the gesture. her day had turned crazy when he had called her up about Ayame's water breaking and the fact that they lived so far from the hospital didn't help the situation at all, then her car got a flat they had to use he's classic Aston Martin. it was a good thing she could drive shift because the proud father-to-be was too concerned with his wife to know that the world continued to spin around them.

looking away, a small black object on the floor grabbed her attention. she bent picking it up and then her eyes once again returned to the hallway void of her two friends. it was shino's dark glasses, the same glasses he never removed, never was without. turning slowly she made her way back to the hospital entrance. those disregarded glasses were just an emblem to how devoted her friend had become to the one he loved.

sighing, she walked out into the fading sun light,

'when will someone think that of me.' she thought dejectedly.

o.o.o.o.o.

itachi scowled at the woman looking at him over her shoulder, it was the third time now and his patience was wearing thin. he turned around looking for something else to focus on but all he was meet with were grocery aisles and large posters speaking of price cuts or specials. what the hell was he doing here?! damn Shisui! what would a grown man have to do with junk regarded as kids' food. chips, nacho sauce and soda?! itachi was hating every minute of being in this grocery store, with a line barely moving because of a cashier who probably belong to the world a good amount of decades before now. he turned back to the line, scowling deeper since the woman was still dealing with the same person. then something caught his eye, off to the side a man was staring down one of the aisles with a rather lecherous gaze. following his gaze, itachi's eyes fell upon something he wasn't expecting to see. he's body when rigid, and his grip tightened around the bag of chips, causing them to cry out loudly under his grasp.

hinata was absently mumbling to herself as she made her way towards the line, of which itachi was the last customer, but then their eye's meet, and she stopped dead in her tracks, almost loosing grip on the tub of ice cream in her hands. itachi smirked showing a facade of calm, though his stomach had just tightened and this heart beat had increased tenfold.

-----------

sorry about the late update, i was having a little problem with my eyes. i couldn't focus. :( it was horrible, so review to make me feel better okay?

don't kill me if it wasn't that good. the itachi part that is

oh and the next update might be a little late, blame it on moving (hate the concept), so review and motivate me


	7. Entirely unintentional

i, xander, do not own naruto.

o.o.o.o.o.o

Hinata's shoulders slumped further, her eyes following the two characters on the Plasma TV in-front of her.

"What am i doing here?" she asked herself for the umpteenth time. Looking around the room her eyes fell on two very familiar people. one, the present nuisance in her life and the other, a friend she had just learned not to trust or believe entirely. 'it's going to be fun' he said, 'you need to take a break one time or another', bah humbug, the hypocrisy of it all. He had this planned.

Shisui was sitting off to the side on a rather large Lazy boy, one foot tucked under the other, and he was totally absorbed in the movie which was playing on screen.

"Did you see that?" he asked, turing enthusiastically to his cousin on the couch. his eyes sparkled in amusement and apparently he was very oblivious to the tension which hung in the air around the room's other two occupants.

Itachi raised his bored eyes to be in line with his cousin's,

"yes, Shisui, i did see that." he said in an equally bored voice. chancing a glance over in Hinata's direction he saw that she too was completely uninterested in the movie and now was occupying herself with examining the contents of the room. he sighed.

"This is going to be a long night." he thought.

o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.

A small electronic device kept going off in the Hyuga household. It rang and rang or rather buzzed loudly, trying to grab the attention of anyone in the immediate vicinity. Too bad no one was and the fact of it being forgotten between the throw pillows on a sun bed didn't help the situation one bit. An annoyed, frustrated caller swore and promptly hung up the phone the moment he heard voice mail switch on. again.

"Kuso, Hinata where are you?" he asked no one in particular.

o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.

Hinata felt his eyes on her again. what was it? the fifth time? she tried ignoring the feeling of being watched but couldn't seem to get pass it since her observer was only just a couple feet away. the movie had taken a turn for the worse and now she was wondering if it would mentally scar her for life, seeing that it wasn't something she would have chosen to look at, not in a million years. Hinata sighed, exasperated.

"What am i doing here?" she asked herself yet again, her eyes falling on the man who had started all this.

Shisui, seemingly was engrossed in the movie. if he leaned any further towards the screen, she was sure he was going to collide with it. he caught all the jokes, saw through all the lies and even pointed out mistakes in the editing. how does seeing faults in a movie entertain one? hinata thought. maybe it had something to do with the fact that he was once a director himself, but after the accident it was found to be in his best interest if he stay put for a while, a while which had presently turned into five years. Hinata's glare softened towards the man totally oblivious of the daggers being sent his way.

'He's great' she thought, 'he went through all that and still has the ability to smile with such ease. He really is a great man.' she concluded.

Then she felt it once again, the humming kettle in her mind suddenly popped and began whistling loudly. slowly she turned towards him.

"Why are you staring at me?" she asked between clenched teeth, in a low threatening voice. Itachi was turned towards the television, seeming oblivious to anything which was going on other than onscreen.

"I saw you, you know." Hinata said crossing her arms across her chest, which was rising appreciatively with every breath she took. Itachi turned towards her, quirking an eyebrow. He shrugged mentally and didn't intend on answering her question, but when she pointed an accusing finger at him and then opened her mouth to say something again, he cut her off.

"I just think you're beautiful." he said, immediately regretting it the moment it left his lips.

'what was that? he screamed mentally, 'I didn't mean to say that, how, when, why do i think she's...'

"You're not too bad looking yourself." Hinata said smirking, just the faint sign of a previous blush was on her face. Itachi looked over, thoroughly amused,

"Good looking? just good looking?" he asked calmly,

"What were you expecting?" Hinata retorted, blowing up her overly long bags in the air as they fell over her eyes. The tension started to dissipate as Itachi graced her with the ghost of a smile,

"Well, I'm usually associated with, handsome, gorgeous, striking, and the occasional stud muffin." he said wearing a smug look. Hinata laughed out right,

"Let me guess, you have a fan club." she stated and then stared in surprise when he nodded his head twice before bursting out laughing once again. Shusui looked over from the lazy boy, catching Hinata's laugh,

"Pretty funny huh." he said referring to the previous scene of the movie before turning back to it once again. Both Hinata and Itachi looked over in his direction. One with amusement, the other with annoyance.

"So, do you wish to take that over again?" Itachi asked, continuing with their conversation. Hinata looked at him and then closed her eyes in mock defiance.

"Nope, am good, good looking pretty much says it." she said looking at him mischievously. She awaited his reply.

Itachi laughed out right...in his mind, but his facial muscles did relax considerable as he considered the female specimen before him.

"Is that so?" he asked, being meet by her head bobbing the affirmative. "I believe that makes you different." he said, breaking eye contact with her to lean back into the couch, his arms crossed over his chest.

Hinata's eyes rested on him, what did he mean by that? she opted to asking.

"What do you mean by that?" she asked, mimicking him to sit with her arms crossed over her chest as well, only now she was facing him instead of the television.

"Well, you are determined on referring to me in a unique way. Be it on a lower standard to the norm or not, it is appreciated. I'm always interested in something 'different'." he said without even opening his eyes or turning towards her.

Hinata sat there in mid shock and amusement. What was he getting at? Then an idea struck her. leaning dangerously close to getting into the other's personal space, Hinata whispered

"Itachi Uchiha, are you interested in me?" she asked in a sickening sweet voice. Itachi's thought process skidded to a halt, he didn't say that. She had ingeniously twisted his words to work towards her benefit. Itachi paused recollecting his thoughts as he thought up an appropriate answer. He turned towards her, her face being just a small distance away, locked eye contact and then,

"Yes." He said, as plain as day. He kept staring at her, watching for her reaction. Now it was Hinata's turn to pause, she wasn't expecting that. She couldn't stop the blush which was growing on her face all the way up to the tip of her ears. turning quickly she moved back to her side of the couch and then sat back, her feet on the floor. His eyes followed the whole process.

Hinata's was in a dilemma. How was she supposed to respond to that? should she say that she too felt the same way? that she was interested in him? was she interested in him? the man who always seemed to to show up where she was and ...and ...and what? he ruined her days, yes. he plagued her thoughts and sent her crazy at nights. so should she?

Hinata risked a glance over in Itachi's direction, but seeing his eyes on her, she turned back abruptly, blushing harder, her fingers twirling around each other. Then she made her decision, staring at the floor she opened her mouth to speak,

"Psych." he said casually, he eyes flashing amusement of her present state. Hinata looked up at him, stared and then growled.

"You?!" she said loudly before swatting him on the arm.

o.o.o.o.o.o.o.

"Well am sorry hun, but she's not here. I think she was invited to a friend's house to see a movie." Mrs. Hyuga said into the phone receiver.

"Which friend?" the voice asked urgently,

"Am, sorry about that too but i don't know. Did you try her cell phone. she.." she began

"She's not answering it." the voice cut in.

" She's probably just busy, you know how she gets. What's the matter though, you sound so desperate." she asked, concern lacing her voice. she was greet by nervous laughter,

"Oh, it's nothing. i just wanted to talk to her. well i guess i'll caught her later. thanks alot Mrs.H. bye." dial tone. replacing the phone to it's base she turned to be meet by her husband's interested stare,

"who was that?" he asked, patting the cushion next to him as she walked around the small table to settle at his right.

"One of Hinata's friends i presume, i do believe it was that blond boy though. He was so pleasant and funny. And the one person to refer to me as Mrs.H." Kyrie said picking up her chopsticks once more.

"Itadakimasu" they said in unison, before they began their meal.

o.o.o.o.o.o.o

Naruto kept staring at the phone in his hands. The image began to blur progressively, until it was almost distorted but it was only the cold trickle going down his cheek that alerted him that he was crying. Swatting angrily at the liquids which betrayed him by coming fort no matter how much he tried to hide it, he replaced the phone to it's base and then used the back of his hands to wipe his eyes. Willing them not to be puffy or red, he turned slowly, scowling as he did so, until he was facing the other occupant in the room.

"_I just think that our relationship is lacking"_

What did he mean by that? what more did he expect? Naruto was confused, yes he wasn't that bright, and he knew it and that's why he was trying so hard to get in contact with somebody. Anybody for that matter, but all his friends seemed to be too caught up in their own lives to even retain a little space labeled 'Friends in need'. His stare of anger softened as he regarded his first love. What had he done wrong this time? it had to be him because Sasuke was perfect, in every aspect of the word. Naruto felt the pain in his heart again as those words once more floated through his thoughts. The burning sensation intensifying in his eyes to the point where he had to turn away in order for his tears of pain to go on unnoticed. Walking slowly he left the room, pausing at the exiting door a few seconds for a reason unbeknownst to him.

Sasuke looked up from the book he was pretending to read, had Naruto paid attention he would have noticed that he hadn't turned the page in over thirty minutes. He had sensed the gloom in the air from the moment he had said it. And it only had intensified from then. Naruto was confused and hurt,he could see it, and he knew the reason why. Because it was him.

o.o.o.o.o.o.o

"Noo?" Hinata asked in disbelieve. Itachi nodded. Her smile returned once again as she shared yet another laugh with the man.

"Bastard!" she said quietly, eyeing him. Itachi shrugged,

"So they say." smiling mentally as Hinata once again broke out into a fit of giggles which ended in her swatting him on the arm. The two were getting along unbelievable well. United in the fact that Shisui's taste in movies sucked, they had resorted to talking about trivial things. From movies to opera, always eventually getting on the topic of the behavior of females and males in society and how they are treated in turn. Which was now where they were as Itachi recalled some of his run-ins with various different women and how obnoxious they were, much to Hinata's delight and humor.

"Well you know what they say about blonds." she said, coming down from her laughing induced high.

"Yes, that's what was strange. She was a brunette." Itachi supplied cooly, sending HInata yet again over the edge. Itachi waited for it, tensing just slightly in anticipation. Then he followed her hand as it was lifted and then came crashing down on his arm. There was no sting, for it wasn't a strike. It was as soft as a caress and even more pleasurable, since Hinata was once again oblivious of the effect she was having on him. Her presence was enough, which made her touch intoxicating and as he soon came to realize, addicting.

"Well, Mr. Uchiha, what is it you think about me?" she asked, although speaking incoherently since she was still laughing in between words. Itachi looked at her, a relaxed look on his face,

"I'm not sure yet Ms.Hyuga. It's strange to meet a girl who seemingly likes to hear the stories of the daunted approaches of other girls and still find it equally amusing to refer to the daunter as a bastard. Clearly my analysis can not be finished in just three encounters." he told her, Hinata clutched her chest in mock hurt,

"Why, Mr. Uchiha, how could you?" she began, "After all my attempts to impress you, I'm merely cast aside as that of an unanalyzed nuisance?!" she concluded, giving itachi the famous puppy dog eyes. Itachi looked at her and then chuckled, a slightly deep alto sound rumbling out from the depth of his chest. Hinata looked on smiling,

'He sounds nice.' she thought. Moving dangerously close to him once again she whispered,

"Why, are my charms no enough Itachi?" she asked, expecting him to laugh once again. Itahchi's eyes opened wide at her close proximity. The distance causing his heart beat to race and his breath to caught.

Hinata moved back laughing at the expression on Itachi's face. She moved her hand to her mouth and then out towards Itachi,

"You are too much." she said laughing, but her hand never made contact.

Itachi caught Hinata's hand just as it was about to rest on his arm. The feeling of the continuous contact sending the light burst of pleasure from the quick taps to ashes. This feeling was roaring, like a fire had been lit in the pit of his stomach. He held her hands in his and in one fluid movement leaned in towards her, stopping just a hair's breath away from her lips.

Hinata was shocked. He was soo close, too close, she couldn't breathe. Itachi waited, he had come this far, he willed her on to close the gap.

Hinata sat there inhaling all the scents where were of a particular male. He smelled nice and his hot breaths made her lips tingle and yearned to be claimed. She waited, but he didn't seem to be doing anything. Maybe this was other of his tricks, she thought. Closing her eyes, she sighed.

Itachi saw her eyes flutter close, and then felt the hot escape of air hit his lips. Then he heard, his mind fogged up with lust and a proximity induced high, a small moan escaping her lips. He needed no more of a sign. He descended.

Their lips meet and pushed against each other, both of them hoping the feeling wouldn't end. The temperature rising between them as well. Hinata's hands fisted in Itachi's shirt as she pulled him closer to her. Itachi, though, anchored his hand to the chair while the other rest lightly on her back. He didn't want his hands going anywhere close to the marvelous mounds on her chest, no matter how much he wanted to touch them.

Shisui was just returning from the bathroom when he saw the two, turning slowing, he hooked his cane to his arm and them quietly walked into the kitchen.

Hinata moaned into the kiss, her lungs protesting the sudden deprivation of their needed oxygen, she broke away reluctantly, taking small hurried breaths to ease the burning her chest and the fire in the pit of her stomach. She hung her head lowly, not wanting to meet the other's gaze. Then she felt his forehead rest on her as he too took in haggard breaths. Pulling away slowly, he paused to kiss her on the forehead and then move back to his side of the couch. cautiously she looked up at him, his once again wore a mask of indifference, his eyes locked on the figures on the television. She too turned towards the T.V, her mind not yet ready to deal with what just happened.

o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o

Long minutes dragged on, neither saying a word to the other. The movie was over, but two of the rooms occupants seemed oh so interested in reading all the names on the credits.

Shisui turned in his chair,

"Well that was fun, ne Hinata?" he said smiling. Said girl was jerked out of a trance like state.

"H-Hai, Shisui." she said meekly.

"You better be getting on home now, unless you want to sleep here?" he said mischievously. Hinata looked up wide eyed,

"N-n-nooo, it's fine thanks." Shisui looked over in Itachi's direction,

"Well, aren't you going to take the lady home?" he asked, humor lacing his voice. Itachi 'hn'ed and then got up taking his keys and then walking towards the door. Hinata got up reluctantly, she didn't really want to be with him alone right now. Smiling softly to Shisui she bid him good night and then followed itachi outside.

The atmosphere didn't improve now that they were alone. Neither said a word.

o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.

Shisui was sprawled out on the couch watching 'The late night show' when Itachi returned. The classic Uchiha smirk appeared on his face. turning towards Itachi he eyed the younger man. Feeling rather smug, he opened his mouth to speak,

"Please don't" Itachi said, before walking out of the room. Shisui smiled,

'could things have gone any better?'

o.o.o.o.o.o.o.

gomen nasai. Update soo late. it's school, and writer's block and lack of inspiration (reviews are the best remedy for that) though i can't promise earlier updates since school uses up so much of my free time. Good news - i have a weeks vacation coming up. yah!!

so, come on people, review!


	8. Worthwhile risks

Disclaimer: I so don't own Naruto

Kyrie raised a curious eyebrow as Hinata's hands once again rose and her fingers just barely passed over her lips. Her daughter was in what could only be described as a love sick daze, from the time she had got to the breakfast table to right then when she smiled to her self and ran her fingers over her lips again. But though these pointed in that direction, her daughter had never mentioned anything about meeting anyone so it just couldn't be. Had they grown apart, was the mother-daughter bond of years pass still present? Kyrie once again cast a curious eye on Hinata as the girl continued to spiral into the classic tell tale signs of being in love, but she brushed it of as nothing. The possibility of it being nothing was quite high aswell, as much as she knew, Hinata could have been acting this way over a very polite patient. The girl was sentimental like that.

Hiashi pushed in the kitchen door and looked over the present two ladies in his life, something he felt great in saying. Though it brought back memories of another he hadn't heard from in quite a while,

"Kyrie, Heard form Hinabi recently?" he asked as he seated himself at the table, toweling his wet hair.

"Yes, in fact she called this morning while you were still at the gym." she said getting up to help him dry out his long, almost too elegant for a man, dark tresses. At the mention of her sister, Hinata looked up at her parents,

"What did she say?" she asked, reaching over to the plate of toast, only just noticing it.

"Nothing particularly new, just that she might not make it this weekend. Said the assignments were getting harder, and you know how Hinabi gets when she's presented with a challenge." her mother replied looking at her

"Anything new with you?" she asked.

Hinata looked up, her mouth half filled with toast while her hand was holding an egg filled fork. Her pale eyes focused on her mother's and she was positive she saw mischief some where it their depths.

"Ah, no. Same old, tons of sick people, fun fun fun." she said nonchalantly, going back to her breakfast.

"Is that so?" Kyrie said softly, as a plan brew in the depths of her mind.

o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.

"Fascinating, isn't it?" Shisui asked, humor lacing his voice.

"What is?" Itachi answered, just to get the conversation over with.

"The ceiling. I mean it has to be, you've been staring at it for the past, what, three hours?"

Itachi turned his head to the side to face his cousin, his face set in a cold stare.

"Hey, I'm just saying." Shisui said before hightailing out of the room as some sharp object got stuck in the door where he was just standing.

"I was just saying!" he shouted from the hallway, laughing as he went.

Itachi tried to scowl despite of the smile that was already in its place. He moved back towards the ceiling, almost the same color to that of the complexion of the one who was now in his thoughts. What was happening? He didn't know but he just loved reliving that moment it his mind. That moment when nothing made sense and yet everything was crystal clear, that moment he vowed never to forget.

o.o.o.o.o.o.o.

Sasuke stared at the food in front of him, and though it looked delicious and smelled mouth watering, he just didn't have an appetite. Naruto was seating next to him and the tension in the air was making it hard for him to just think a whole sentence through without wanting to kick himself in the face. He chanced a glance at the blond and only grew in self-hatred at the solemn face he wore.

"I'm not really hungry." he said to no one in particular as he left the table, locking himself in his study. This needed to be resolved, and soon.

Naruto tore his eyes away from the empty doorway through which Sasuke had just left. He picked up the plate of the untouched food and moved to the trash can, emptying its contents into it. His grip tightened on the plate as he chastised himself for even thinking that making Sasuke breakfast was going to help in the storm they were presently caught in. Throwing the plate in the sink he walked out of the room, one more day to wait and wonder, one more day where life seemed oh so wrong.

Hearing the sound of a plate shattering brought Sasuke back from his own chastisement session. He sighed and pounded the desk, he needed to do something. He was going to do something. He reached across his desk to his phone, his mind made up.

o.o.o.o.o.o.

"She has your eyes." Hinata cooed as she cradled the small lavender bundle in her arms, her countenance set in utmost joy and excitement.

"That makes six." Shino said, turning to smile at his wife. Ayame rolled her eyes in disbelief as Shino continued to gloat and look rather cocky, a characteristic very rarely associated with him.

"Six what?" Hinata asked, her focus still glued to the little pink person staring so avidly back her through the lavender folds of her blanket.

"Six persons who know Akane has his eyes. No one else does, since he's so caught up with wearing those... those... those!" she said pointing to Shino's ever preset sunglasses.

Hinata looked up at this, she looked back and forth between the two and then smiled.

"I don't know, but Shino wouldn't be... well, Shino if he doesn't have his glasses." she said smiling.

Ayame sighed, "I just want everyone to see what I see." she said softly, looking up at her husband. Shino looked down at her and then raised a hand to caress her cheek lovingly.

"What if I don't want them to?" he asked as he swooped down to place a soft kiss on her lips. Ayame reached up pulling off his glasses,

"Why not, I love your eyes, they're so beautiful." she said

"And I love you." he said walking back over to where he was originally standing, "I guess we both got what we loved most."

"But I don't like your sunglasses." Ayame filled in,

"Well, I don't like ramen." Shino said without thought.

"NANI????"

o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o

Itachi made his way slowly, weaving in and out of the small stands littering the sidewalk in-front the small French restaurant, towards the man sitting alone, in a corner, almost out of view. He approached, bowed slightly and sat. An eager female waitress standing not too far away also approached as he sat, but was almost immediately dismissed. The two sat in silence, a custom they shared and had learned to appreciate anytime they were in each other's company. Though, this time the silence was different, it lacked the mutual agreement that speaking was not on the agenda and despite the fact Itachi had no interest in hearing other's problems or in trying to resolved them, he had agreed to meet and had given up a wonderful opportunity at work to drown himself in his specialty and get his thoughts away from, if only for a moment, a certain violet eyes, dark haired female, who lurked the corridors of his conscious mind. And now this silence was becoming an annoyance.

"Why am I….." Itachi had begun when he was interrupted.

"I hurt him." Came the monotone voice. Itachi turned away from the other man, crossing one leg over the other. Then turned back, giving him a blank stare.

"That's all there is to it…. I hurt him." Came the voice once again. Itachi's stare didn't falter.

"I've hurt him… and I don't know how to fix it."

"I have better things to do, Sasuke." He said finally. Sasuke sighed, bringing his gaze inline with his brother's for the first time that afternoon.

"I don't know what to do." Sasuke said looking at Itachi in complete earnest. An emotion that took the other off guard. It beckoned him to actually try listening to what his little brother had to say. He motioned with his hand for the man to continue. Sasuke 'hn'ed, looking away, the perfect picture of defiance. And the silence began once again but when Itachi rose to leave it sparked speech in the dumb.

"I said something I shouldn't have and …. And now I think he hates me." Sasuke said looking out at the passing traffic, he was confused, he was afraid, he felt helpless… He felt weak, and then it hit him.

"I think I love him." He said looking at his brother. Itachi's facial expression didn't change.

"But I don't know how to show it."

Itachi kept on staring.

"Buying him presents can only do that much, but now, now I think I want him to know how I feel, but….. that's the hardest part." Sasuke stopped, looking out at the traffic again, a small smile playing on his lips.

"He makes me feel wanted, needed even." The smile grew

"I know he loves me." He said turning back to Itachi, who was now, very fascinated with the current proceedings.

A glow seemed to envelope the younger Uchiha's complexion as he went over the little things his lover did to show his affection to him. Itachi looked on in wonder,

'When did this happen? When did he brother fall so hard? How did it happen? Was Naruto that great a person?' He had only seen him as slightly good looking and not too bright but as Sasuke went on and on about the things he did, new light was shone on the character of the man who was always at his younger brother's side. Then he saw it, just as Sasuke had said, he really was in love.

"You have to show him." He finally said interrupting the other's speech. Sasuke looked at his brother, seeing him once again, as he had spaced out talking about Naruto,

"What?" he asked somewhat confused, had he missed something?

"You have to show him." Itachi repeated.

Sasuke rose one of his eyebrows at his brother,

"That's the one thing, I don't know how to do." He said, 'Was this guy even listening?'

"Figure it out little brother." Itachi said in conclusion as he got up to leave, casting on last glance at the bewildered face of his brother's, which was slowly changing to hard determination, the Uchiha heir smiled inwardly.

'He'll figure it out.' He thought to himself, ' he just has to, cause I haven't the slightest clue of what to do.'

o.o.o.o.o.o.o.

The sky grew progressively darker as the sun set. The memory of its presence still in view as long orange and purple tendrils stretched across the sky. The busy movement of the people on the street grew less, as did the traffic as well. The day settled into night and the coolness of the coming autumn engulfed the city. Hinata drew her jacket tighter around herself as she made her way to her car, it was quite breezy and though she liked it, her hair kept blocking her view from time to time. Throwing her backpack in the back sit of the car, she closed the door and opened the front. The gas station attendant smiled warmly at her and then bowed moving out of the way as she began driving out. As she was leaving, a dark Mustang drove in, she stopped allowing the car to enter and as it slowly moved pass her car, she drew it a sharp breath when she saw who was the driver.

Itachi looked over at the other driver, surprised as well to see his thoughts manifested so perfectly before him. Hinata smiled at him, fighting down the blush she felt raising. Itachi nodded courtly and continued to drive into the gas station. He looked on in part self-battery and bewilderment as her car left the gas station and drove of into the night. Why hadn't he said something? Why….

The gas station attendant 'eep'ed in surprise as the money was chucked into his hands just before the black Mustang raced out of the station, almost immediately disappearing in the darkness. This was not going to be one of those 'missed

opportunities'.

Sorry for the loooong delay

Chapter might be a bit boring… gomen

But still reviews? Please?


	9. Fate?

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Oh, I also don't own Collide by Howie Day…. Just kinda borrowed the lyrics **shhhhhhh**

Itachi kept tailing Hinata's car a far enough distance away where she wouldn't be too suspicious and where he could keep her in sight as well. She had left the town and entered the suburbs, the dwellings changing form that of huge apartment complexes to smaller more family oriented housing.

He saw her turn into a driveway that led to a rather large compound. He continued driving straight but stopped a short way down from the entrance.

"What am I doing?" he thought as realization hit him as to where he was and to what he was doing. And though his actions where purely based on the belief of not letting any opportunity pass where he might be able to talk, for the least, with the Hyuga lady, this felt, immensely, like the actions of a stalker.

Sighing to himself, the Uchiha heir turned his car and drove away from the compound and towards his place of lodging, ensuring on first taking note of the directions to get there that is.

o.o.o.o.o.o

Hinata drove into the garage, stopped and got out of the car. Grabbing her backpack, she popped through the small door and headed in the direction of the stairs that lead to the front door. It was already pretty late and though the outside lights of the house were on, there still were areas which were cast in shadow.

Being accustom to her little routine, the young Hyuga paid no attention to these areas. Absently mussing over the fact of seeing Itachi at that gas station, Hinata was more that just a little startled when someone suddenly moved towards her from the shadows.

"Nice." He said as he caught her hand in mid blow, "That was really good, wouldn't have caught it if it was me who taught it to you." He said smiling slightly.

"Naru…Naruto kun? Naruto what are you doing here?" she asked, suddenly getting angry at him for scaring her.

"Well I wanted to see you Hinata. Is there something wrong in that?" he asked, moving towards her. Hinata backed away from his approach, not liking the look her friend had in his eyes or the aura that seemed to surround him.

"You could have called." She said quickly. Naruto smirked, moving in closer to her.

"Why? And ruin the surprise?" he said raising his hand slowly to move the unruly hair which had fallen over her face. Hinata blushed,

"This is very unlike you Naruto, what's going on here?" she asked, sure of this being some trick concocted by her friends as some kind of joke or something along that line.

"How is this unlike me, HIna chan? You never complained when I showed up at your house unannounced in college." He said smiling slyly. Hinata flinched. What was going on? Naruto hadn't called her that in ages, equal to that amount of time that had passed since they were together in college.

"That was, that was back in college Naruto kun. That was ages ago, and anyways you're with Sasuke kun now." She said looking into his eyes. Suddenly there was a flash of pain in their depths, which was submerged just as fast as it had sparked.

"Still like to wear your hair long I see." He said, delicately picking up a handful of her black tresses and bring them up to his face.

"Mmm," he said inhaling its fragrance, " And it still smells of lavender and.. and what is that baby powder?" he asked flashing her one of his brilliant smiles. Hinata could feel herself being drawn to him just as strong as she was back in their schooling days if not stronger, for one had to admit, age had a good effect on the Uzumaki youth.

Fighting hard to beat down the building blush, Hinata turned her head away from Naruto.

"What's going on here, Naruto?" she asked in a small voice.

"Nothing, just two friends catching up on some old times, that's all." He said as he leaned against his hand, closing in on the distance that separated their faces. Hinata gasped, resolve shaking her. She was not going to stand for this. Standing her ground, she turned meeting his gaze.

"Naruto Uzumaki, I demand an answer to the question of the reason of your present strange behavior." She said calmly and evenly. Naruto smiled.

"I like this new you, Hina chan. It's …. Enticing." He whispered as he swooped down to place a chaste kiss on her lips.

'What the hell is going on?' was the only thought that manifested in the young Hyuga's mind.

It was like some surreal happening, an alternate universe where one had no control over their bodies, much like that of having no control over the events that occurred around them. Hinata was spellbound, she knew it was wrong, but she couldn't help herself, she couldn't help what she was feeling, she couldn't help the emotions which were once more brought to the surface, identical feelings to the one she had once buried.

Was this fate, was this their destiny. Was this cruel turn of events nature's way of setting things right? Once more she tried to fight it, thinking of all the disadvantages of giving in to such a situation, but in this realm where nothing made sense, rational thought also was silenced. So she gave in, she gave up and gave in. The lines of a song she was just listening on the car radio coming back to her

_Even the best fall down sometimes,_

_Even the wrong words seem to rhyme _

_Out of the doubt that fills my mind _

_I somehow find_

_You and I collide_

Hinata turned towards the blond with a semi glazed look covering her eyes, her lips were slightly parted as she fought to regain the breath she had lost since he revealed himself. Moving as though in a trance she closed up on him, surprising him at her actions. Naruto looked on as the blush on her face increasingly darkened. He slowly ran his hand through her hair, smiling to himself as she leaned into his touch.

"You're beautiful." He whispered softly, smile still in tow as her face darkened even further. Gently he raised and rested his hand on the small of her back, remembering the affect it once had. Hinata gasped inaudibly, as she felt herself heat up considerable, also feeling the heat radiating off of the blond aswell in small waves of bounded desire.

Did she want this? Did she honestly…… could she do this and not feel guilty in the end? It felt right yes, but…… but …… the mere fact that there was another reason there for her to not think the this was all a bed of roses, wasn't that enough to stall her actions? Wasn't that enough for her to rethink her decision of just letting things be? If fate was really in play, why now? Why not then? Why not then when they were together for real and not just that he just showed up one night on her doorstep. Why now when he was….

Hinata's thought process skidded to a halt as she saw Naruto's descent towards her. He stopped just a hair width away from her. She could once again fell the hot breath of a man tingling her lips, so familiar to a time once, but her clouded mind could not decipher when. A waft of springtime and dewdrops flooded her olfactory organs, making her mind swoon even deeper into the desire to indulge.

His lips brushed against hers in a soft gliding fashion, sending sparks throughout the Hyuga heiress' body. Not yet had they kissed but she already could feel the moan building within her. Suddenly he stopped, securing his arms around her, he pulled her flush into his body. Her semi hard nipples pushed into his muscular chest, their hips fitting almost too perfectly into each other. Hinata unconsciously dropped her back pack to the floor as he hands moved to caress the soft blond locks which adorned the head of the one before her, her legs twitching quietly, shifting positions to quell the heat which was steadily growing between them. And then they kissed.

It wasn't hurried or hungered. To her it seemed like more of an experimental kiss than anything else. Boldly she parted her lips, giving him entrance he had not yet asked for, but when he did enter sparks flew. All of the old emotions of the past came flooding back as they melted into each other's bodies. His grip on her tightened as he drew her up to himself. Hinata squeaked as she felt herself momentarily lifted off the ground, she too tighten her hold on him, wanting to feel all of him, wanting the desire that was now ragging inside her to be sufficiently gratified.

As the kiss ended, HInata's mind, though clouded by lust, gave a jolt in the direction of why this should not be. Slowly she looked up to the those beautiful cerulean eyes and asked,

"What about Sasuke?"

o.o.o.o.o.o.o

Itachi looked on with lazy eyes as the white ball once again disappeared into one the small cut out holes on the table. Resting down his pole, he reached towards his drink which was on a table close by. As he picked his pole up, intent set on the small purple ball which for some unseen reason seemed to be mocking him, he tried to imitate the pose he was just previously taught, Kisame's voice interrupted him in mid bend,

"My turn, little partner." He said retrieving the white ball form the contents of the small pocket.

"If I remember correctly, I pocketed that ball." Itachi said, semi glare.

"And that's why you're out for this turn." Kisame said moving around the table to get a better aim at his next target. Suddenly a large pale hand closed over the small ball in front of him. Sighing loudly he looked up to meet the glare of his companion.

"I thought the point of this game was to put the balls in those pockets." Itachi said spinning the ball in his hands, eyes still trained on the larger man.

"It is, though there are some exceptions like the white ball." Kisame said, stifling a chuckle on the other's ignorance.

"Why the white ball?" Itachi asked in interest and yet hidden contempt on the stupidity of the whole game.

"Well, little partner, didn't you notice that's the only ball without a number on it?" he asked, his face cracking into a broad smile. Itachi stared at the white ball in his hand, unconsciously turning it over to reveal yet another blank white side. Frustrated but the simplicity of the concept of the game and the fact of his own ignorance, he threw the ball unto the table walking away towards the bar.

"Hey! Don't be a sore loser." Kisame shouted from the pool table as the balls all got jumbled in the aftermath of Itachi's throw.

"You know, there really should be a limit to one's ignorance, un?" Diedara said smiling before he rushed towards the pool table and away from the rain of toothpicks which were aimed at him.

"Hey! You going to pay for those?" came the gruff voice of the bar tender as Itachi sat down on one of the stools. The Uchiha male rested his chin on his hands and then slowly raised his head to be in line with the man behind the counter. Their eyes locked. He glared.

"Or not." The bartender said in fear as he moved towards an imaginary customer.

Itachi sat at the bar sulking, the previous events of the day playing in his mind. He had gone after her under the impression of not making that encounter yet another 'missed opportunity', but then, a missed opportunity at what exactly. Reaching for his glass he took a long swing of the intoxicating liquor, willing its effect to clear his mind and ignoring the fact that his thoughts were only becoming much more clouded.

Itachi closed his eyes, reliving the kiss in his mind once more. Why he liked it so much? He didn't know. Why just thinking of it made him have weird feelings in his stomach? That too he didn't know, but he could blame it on indigestion. As his thoughts continued so did his alcohol consumption. The bartender had deliberately left a bottle of rum within the man's reach and then moved away to the other end of the counter.

But soon the bottle neared the end of its contents. Itachi looked up to the designated liquor distributor's current location; raising his hand slowly he motioned the man over to refill his glass. The bartender hesitated and then grew in courage as he mentally regarded the amount of alcohol the smaller man had consumed. Now with his glass refilled, Itachi looked up at the man, surprisingly the man stood his ground. Itachi glared, the man glared back. Though his glare was less intense since his presence though logically should be completely intoxicated his countenance showed no appearance of any drunken state what so ever.

"I'll pay for that." Came a voice distracting both men from their previous staring contest. The bartender grateful to busy himself with other things than the small pale man who had the eyes of death itself, and Itachi unfortunately interrupted from letting fort his famous Uchiha glare. He turned to the one now sitting beside him

"I can pay for my drinks fine." He said calmly, then looked on a little bit surprised as he saw his companion was a man. A very good looking man at that too. The man smiled, a slight combination of a smirk and a grin.

"Ah yes, that is of no doubt Mr….?" he asked

"Uchiha. Uchiha Itachi." Itachi said a little bored at the fact that he was conversing with another man. Was there something very wrong with his social skills? Women he couldn't stand because of this constant bickering and need for attention, and men he found ……, well he just didn't like talking all that much. Was that too much to ask? Or should he buy a huge neon sign with blinking words of "Leave thy alone." In order to get the peace and quiet he felt he so rightly deserved.

"Well, nice to meet you, Mr. Uchiha." The man said with a warm smile, or at least that's what Itachi thought, seeing as he wasn't one to know the difference of the facial expressions of another male. Itachi nodded in response, bringing his glass up to his lips once again.

"I'm Asai. Asai Makito." The man said extending his had towards the Uchiha heir. Out of mere respect Itachi took the other's hands. The shake was firm and a little unnerving, mainly because of slight squeeze he receive right at the end. But in his present state of alcohol therapy, he couldn't care less.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

**Gomen, gomen, gomen. I was very busy this week. With…… stuff, very important stuff…….like sleeping. :P. anyways, I'm now determined to finish this story. There will some bends ahead, and unexpected turns, but that's the beauty of a story ne?**

**Your reviews are always welcomed. I love reviews so much. Tear up **

**Hope you enjoyed it**

**Until next time**

**Ja ne **


	10. False perceptions

Disclaimer: Clearly I do not own Naruto, for if I did, there would be tons of blue eyed black haired brats running all over the place.

Thank you to all who've reviewed, this chapter is dedicated to you, as is every other on here, aren't I nice? Cue sick sadistic smirk.

o.o.o.o.o.o.o

Hinata stared dumfounded at the person before her. Gone was the atmosphere of confidence and with the tears which welled up in his eyes, she could feel little pieces of her own world falling apart.

Reaching up cautiously at the weeping blond, Hinata dragged her thumb across his fast becoming tear stained cheek. Naruto looked down at her, his countenance reflecting all of the pain which was bottled up inside. Hinata looked on helpless and confused.

"Fuck, Hinata! I don't want your pity, don't look at me like that." He shouted putting up a weak defense. Hinata stood there shocked, was she…. Did she pity him?

Moving quickly she grabbed onto his hand and rushed into the house. They walked through the entrance, unruffled by the confused looks the two occupants of the living room sofa sent their way. Hinata turned her head towards her father, her eyes begging his understanding, so when her mother had moved to intercept or follow the couple, the strong yet gentle grip that was placed on her arm, silently urging her to let them be, was proof of complete awareness of the situation.

The contrasting couple rushed through the hall and then the kitchen until they were upon the door leading to the back garden of the house. Naruto moved with the heiress without once opposing her decision on an appropriate destination, so when she had paused shortly slipping out of her slipper, he to did the same. Casting a short glance at her companion, Hinata pushed open the door and step out into the cool night air.

Autumn was evident in the Hyuga garden. The fastly becoming bear trees, the ground littered with the many colors of leaves shed daily by these trees. Hand in hand they moved among the chirping crickets and occasional bird whistle, the leaves crunching where they passed. Naruto looked out at the pond situated at the middle of the garden, the moon's reflection glistening oh so perfectly on its pristine surface. The arrived at a small bench swing and sat in silence. Letting out a small sigh, he lowered his head.

"Do you believe in fate, Hinata?" he asked softly, not turning towards the woman beside him. Hinata looked at the blond and pondered the question, she knew her father had a strong belief as to the reason behind the occurrences of certain situations, but did she herself also contain this attachment to superstition? Before she could materialize an answer, he continued,

"Do you think that every thing has its destined start and inevitable end? The places we go….. people we meet…... lives we live? Is it really that simple?" he asked again, though this time Hinata didn't try replying, she remained silent and listened.

"Cause if that's true," the blond chuckled "Lady Fate is one hell of a bitch."

She looked on as he raised his head looking out into the darkened garden, not really looking at anything in particular, since he was focused on one spot which held nothing of significance.

"I had nothing." He whispered, making the young Heiress lean towards him just to catch what he was saying.

"If this life is my fate, I wish…... I wish I was never ……"

'Born?' Hinata thought in surprise, was Naruto this depressed? What had happened, what was going on? She reached for him but stopped when she saw his hands ball into fists on his lap.

"I was all alone, they left me. I was so little I don't remember them at all but… but .. I never stop missing them, wishing that something could have gone differently, that maybe I could have gone with them as well… but.." sighing loudly, Naruto let his hands fall open, the color returning to them. He crouched over slightly letting his hair fall over his eyes, grateful of the quiet but more so the dark.

"Naruto" HInata whispered to herself, she knew the story of his parents, she knew for she had heard it before. But it was all those years ago and she really thought that he was over not having them already. But as the sorrow and sadness of this individual rolling out as waves kept crashing over her, she realized her perception was flawed.

"I was lucky though," The azure-eyed individual continued as if talking to no one in particular but merely voicing his thoughts. Hinata was grateful all in the same.

"I was lucky cause I had someone there to acknowledge my existence, to make me feel wanted while surrounded by people with such small minds and ill intent. And yet still, among that chaos all I really wanted was my parents back…. Iruka was great but he could only do that much, he was limited and I… I was longing." His head took another dip towards his lap as he tried to crouch himself into the tightest little ball possible, while still emitting the image of normalcy.

"Most kids… like me, say they miss their dad the most, and don't get me wrong, I'd give anything just to hang out with the old man, play some sports or have some ramen." He said chuckling slightly. Hinata smiled a small sad smile, but tried to keep her face as neutral as possible for she didn't want to give out a look of pity, pity didn't help the situation in any way.

"I miss them both, more then than now, but I still do. But her, her I longed for, it was like trying to catch the frog that kept jumping away from you the moment you came too close." This time her smile was one of amusement; apparently Naruto still hadn't lived down his love for the green jumping creatures.

"I miss hearing her voice as she sang me to sleep, or her shouts of frustration when I squirmed from not wanting to brush my hair, her laugh of appreciation when I bring her flowers in apology. I never knew what is was like to come home to fresh baked cookies because I did well on a test, the few time THAT ever happened." Hinata nodded her head in agreement, the _few_ times indeed.

"To never feel her arms around me when I wake up from a nightmare screaming, no matter how much of those I had." He whispered

"But there was nothing I could do to get them back, nothing I could do …….nothing." Hinata felt a sudden pain in her chest as she listened to her friend, her hands unconsciously moving upwards trying to prevent the pain from moving. It was a fruitless attempt.

Missing something one never had, for clearly as a baby he couldn't have remembered them, but still, though there was no memory the pain of them not being there seemed to be just as real as anything else. Hinata sighed, she had never before fully grasped the fact of how lucky she was.

"But then I meet you, Hina-chan" Naruto continued happily, turning towards his companion, his eyes glistening from unshed tears. "And you accepted me for who I was and you liked me and…..you liked me and all I did in return was hurt you." His voice was now as soft as a whisper. He turned towards her, his eyes pleading for her forgiveness of his foolish actions. Hinata smiled in response, there was nothing else to do. He was right, he did hurt her, and she did in fact like him, even thought she had loved him at the time but she had realized it was a hopeless infatuation with the presence he carried with him where ever he went and in the end she was relatively happy when he had found someone who had really liked him. But with respect to current events, maybe here as well, her perception was wrong.

o.o.o.o.o.o

Itachi incorporated a small frown along with the famous Uchiha glare as he directed his contorted yet still seemingly normal facial expression towards his companion at the bar. But alas, to his dismay the expected reaction was forgone for a chuckle,

"Are you feeling well, Mr. Uchiha?" the man asked, smiling slightly. Itachi's scowl deepened, if that was even possible. This man had been sitting beside him quietly for the longest while now, well the longest while his intoxicated mind could recall.

"Am perfectly fine." The Uchiha prodigy replied, stressing on the word perfect.

Makito looked from the irritated expression of the brunette to the rapidly decreasing contents of the bottle of alcohol, which was situated in front of said brunette. He chuckled once again, which was rewarded with another glare.

"Is there something to laugh about?" Itachi asked, taking a long swing of the contents in the glass he held. The stool wobbled slightly and the glass slipped. Itachi replaced the glass to it's originally position and resorted to trying to combust in with one of his especially hateful stares. He was just reaching for another of the glasses which lined the bar counter, his hate for the previous too much to consider using it again, when something very odd, be that very light in saying, happened.

Makito had been staring at the liquid which had spilled unto Itachi's chin for the longest while. It was much like the little dribble was beckoning him, and though he was a strong willed, conserved individual, situations like these were not to pass up on. Especially when the person to whom the chin belonged was soo darn…. Hot! For lack of a better word. So on instinct, if one could call it that, he acted.

Moving cautiously he reached out his hand slowly towards his intended target. His fingers itched and he couldn't put a reason as to why his heartbeat had increased just that minuscule amount. Eventually he reached his target and looked on with part amusement and part enjoyment as to the parade of emotions that crossed his companion's face when he dragged his finger over his chin capturing the dribble of alcohol and then promptly placed said finger in his mouth. He never once had broke eye contact.

Itachi had looked shocked for a moment, which was almost immediately succeeded by a scowl.

"I don't bend that way." He said way to calm and coherently for his intoxicated state.

"Why, there lies no problem, I'd happy to be the one to bend." Makito answered calmly, turning back to his own drink.

Itachi stared, he stared hard.

"Hn" he finally said. Also turning back to his drink. Though the silence was short lived,

"What do you say to a night of unforgettable pleasure, Uchiha san?" the man drawled, his voice husky and low

"I say no." Itachi responded, not even turning to address the man properly.

"Why, is there some one else?" Makito asked, his interest peaked at his refusal.

"No." Itachi answered, reaching for his bottle once again. Being in a bar helped the situation, a lot. If ever he would have to remember anything, he could always blame in on being too drunk to think clearly.

"No? Well then what could be the reason you'd pass up on something this generous?"

"Like I said, I don't bend that way." Itachi said looking at the man from the corner of his eye, " I wasn't being literal." He added when he saw the tell tale signs of a retort. Makito laughed,

"You entice me to no end, Uchiha san. I assure you, even if you don't see things my way, the experience is not one to pass up on just because of the social norm."

"I live by what I deem right, no by any socially accepted behavior." Itachi said

"A wild card I see." Makito said, taking another swing of his drink.

"You can say that." Itachi replied.

"A wild card with limited freedom. Don't you get tired of your restrains?" Makito asked with genuine interest.

" They aren't restrains and they certainly aren't things to get tired of. They simply keep things in order." Itachi replied visible tensing as realization hit as to the mini interrogation he was presently in.

" Loosen up, bub." Makito said, casually gripping the other man's shoulder, rotating his writs in a semi circle as he felt the taunt muscles beneath them.

"Really, you should loosen up a bit. Plus sometimes things are a lot more fun when they're a little bit _out_ of order." He practically purred, jolting Itachi from the small degree of comfort he had allowed himself to fall into, as the muscles on his left shoulder had responded to the other's touch by sending tendrils of ease down his arm.

"Me? Myself, I like when things gets messy every once in a while." Makito ended, his smile coaxing a response.

Itaci just stared, and stared, and stared.

"Why, why do you continue on after I have already daunted your pursuit? Is it not enough to be rejected once? Self preservation, does this concept not apply to you?" he finally asked, his mind just analyzing the situation correctly, his thoughts though still in a slight fog.

Makito chuckled again and then turned completely to face his bar companion, but as he was met by the serious and yet curious stare of the other man, his chuckled died down to a small smile, which was ultimately replaced by a pout.

"Should I take that as a 'No'?" he asked, his voice just inches away from a whine.

Itachi showed no sign of giving a response.

Sighing loudly the man dragged his hand down his face in exasperation.

"What were my chances?" he asked, eyeing the next man, pondering over the fact that maybe there wasn't any chance there from the start. Again he was greeted by a blank and yet expectant stare. How was that physically possible?

"Somewhere between zero and nil?" his face going back to smile as he saw the slight amusement flash through itachi's eyes, though his face gave nothing away.

"Well Mr. Uchiha, if you must know, I find the risks that ones takes shows the courage of their soul. Though, in your case it just shows the standard I welcome into my bed, or car or bar bathroom, you sure you don't want to?" he asked, his smile growing as the conversation went into a more informal tone.

Itachi smirked, "Standard? What standard? If a bar bathroom and car are on that list, what do you expect me to think? Well I do have expectations too, you know." He said sipping his drink once more.

"Did I mention I have a Porsche?" Makito said, his face on the brink of breaking into a wide grin. Itachi smiled, as rare as it was to happen, and little did Makito know of the privilege he had in seeing it. "With reclining seats." He added with a seductive air.

Itachi picked up his drink and took a long slow drink while trying to hide the small blush, which had defied all forms of defense and resistance to show up across his nose as Makito doubled over barking with laughter.

"You are one in……. a lot" Makito finally chocked out, just getting over his laughter high. Itachi 'Hn'ed and refused to meet the other's gaze as he knew his companion looked the part to be still filled with witty, as well as perverted comebacks. In his gaze over the numerous bottles of alcohol, which decked the shelves of the bar, he pondered over the words Makito had said.

'…_the risks that ones takes shows the courage of their soul' _ of course he wasn't one to back down from a challenge, if it was worthy to stand up to in the first place, and he could never refer to himself as a coward. But it was rather weird that as the sentence was repeated over and over again in his head the only connecting thought that differed from that of strangely entertaining gays and the wonderful warmth of alcohol was that of lavender eyed, dark haired Heiresses. Was he being a coward, oh he hoped not.

"What if the possibility of there being a good outcome of the risk you take is as minuscule as the chance of it being successful?" Itachi asked in all seriousness.

Makito quirked an eyebrow at this, blaming the redundancy of the sentence on the intoxicated state of which Itachi was in at the moment, though his appearance held nothing of that inclination.

"You mean like in your case?" he asked smiling at the Uchiha, "those are the best risks of all, you go in with the confidence of a flea and come out of them, most times, roaring like a lion." He concluded but was urged to go on, as Itachi's face contorted in confusion. "It's true the chances of a good result might be small in those cases but, one would never know whether or not that small chance would come to be if they didn't in fact take the risk. You might go in with the thought of accomplishing a specific intent and end up completely and unexpectedly experiencing something entirely different. Take me for example, I was looking for someone to bring me pleasure tonight and ended up having a rather interesting conversation with you. Risks just adds to unpredictability of life, and that, sometimes, is a good thing."

Itach looked on in slight awe and semi amazement as the man before him picked up his drink, finishing it. He had never looked at life in that way. In actuality the unpredictably of life had been one of the many things to peeve him, making plans and then having to go back on them because of an unforeseen occurrence, but now, now new light was shone on the subject and he could almost already feel the confidence building within him.

Standing suddenly, he extended his hand towards Makito as the authority and grace of an aristocrat as he shook the other's hand.

Makito nodded and smiled, glad in having meet Itachi, and from the light which shone in the other's eyes, he thought it was safe to say that Itachi felt the same.

Itachi moved from behind bar and started to walk towards the figures he assumed to be Kisame and Diedara until his feet gave way and he unceremoniously crumbled to the floor into a small blabbering drunken heap, the glass and empty bottle on the counter clinking with glee as to say it was their own little form of revenge on the unsightly Uchiha.

o.o.oo.o.o.o.o.o

Naruto rushed back one last time to once again embrace the lithe frame of the Hyuga Heiress,

"Thanks for listening Hinata, you have no idea just how much the past few hours mean to me." He held her out at arms length and smiled, a genuine smile of true gratitude which then morphed into a grin as his hands left her shoulder to interlock behind his head.

"Ne, Hinata, that stuff…….. it's just between the two of us right? Hehe" he said laughing nervously, Hinata smiled.

"Sure thing, foxy." She said winking at him. Naruto's smile faded and then morphed again, into a smirk

"You know, this new you, is rather intriguing. I'm not saying the cute stuttering you wasn't all together adorable but this… this" he said motioning as to the person in front of him "This new you is like the rainbow after the rainstorm or rather a beautiful butterfly emerging from a creepy caterpillar,…… not that you were creepy, not in the least it's just ….." he was interrupted though when HInata extended her hand touching his arm,

"I understand Naruto." She said quietly, appreciating the smile he directed her way

"Plus, I don't want you to break anything, taking on such a huge task as thinking and all." She concluded smirking evilly.

"Ah!" Naruto whined in mock hurt, "It wounds!" He said clutching his chest which feigning pain. Hinata giggled and swatted him on the arm before pushing him away.

"I'll see you around, Sunny, un-un-unless, I-I find reason to-to- to come hunt you-you d-d-down. " he said taking a jeer at the girl's confidence from his knowledge of her past imperfections. Then shouted in surprise as a small plastic slipper was thrown at his head. Jumping of the porch he stood in the driveway waving, to which Hinata waved back before turning around quickly, ripping her hair and then swinging her waist seductively as she walked back into the house. Naruto's barks of laughter were the last thing to be heard before she closed the door.

Hinata slowly made her way to the kitchen, opening the refrigerator she pulled out a small tub of ice cream and then a spoon from the cupboard draw before moving back to the living room. She turned on the T V and then lowered the volume as not to wake her slumbering parents.

She settled on a show about the effectiveness and yet risks that cardiologists undertook in performing the Batista operation but was more staring at the television than actually paying attention to it. What had transpired that night had given her food for thought. Never had she once thought that Naruto and Sasuke were having problems with their relationship, and from what Naruto had said, ignoring the fact that he was hell bent on it being his fact because of his belief in the Uchiha's inability to do anything else it was perfect, their little bout had taken a harder toll on the blond than that would have been expected. But from the blond's history, having someone continuously in your life, loving and caring for you, believing in you, something you had never once had experienced before, it wasn't a surprise as to how hard it had hit him and how desperate he had tried to fix things. Now reassured of things most likely working themselves out or at least having a long overdue chat with the brunette, the blond had said he was feeling better and had actually looked like a weight had been lifted of his shoulder as he shared his pain with one he truly believed was his friend. And this time, Hinata believed her perception was dead on.

o.o.o.o.o.o.o

Kyrie looked at her daughter in amusement as said girl grumbled and buzzed around her room to put on her house coat, which was proving to be a problem since her eyes were still closed. Stomping out of her room and down the hall, Hinata mentally rained down curse after curse on the poor individual who had dared wake her up so early on her one day off that week. And though technically it was her mother who had woken her up, the woman had, supposedly, gone through 18 hours of labor to bring her into the world so was safe, but this unknown individual had it coming for them, in full.

Reaching for the doorknob and then yanking the door open, Hinata was meet by a rather unfarmiliar sight. Dark coal eyes stared back at her as her grip on her coat loosened and her shoulders slumped forwards,

"Well, shit." She said exasperatedly before turning and walking back into the house, motioning for the man to follow her in.

A delicate eyebrow rose at her demeanor and then a classic well-known smirk formed as the Uchiha did as indicated.

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**Gomen, haven't updated in quite a while huh? Yeah I know, sorry, school and school and more school. But this chapter is extra long to make up for past time. **

**Hope you enjoyed it**

**And do review, they to me, are like ambrosia **:)

**Oh and if there's any mistakes, please tell me, I braved a headache and wrote this. Reviews are also like medicine :p **


	11. Schemes

I, of course do not own Naruto

o.o.o.o.o.o

Shisui looked on with mild interest and greater curiosity at the woman sitting in the chair opposite him

Shisui looked on with mild interest and greater curiosity at the woman sitting in the chair opposite him. The uncanny resemblance, and at the same time lack there of, of a resemblance to Itachi's other rather strangely characteristic friends was a little surprising, though he did dismiss it as nothing when the thought of a doctor at his hospital having 'pink' hair occurred. It had always interested him in knowing how, said girl's parents would've reacted if they had had a boy…… with pink hair….. but his musing was interrupted when the desired Uchiha male cleared the hall way and walked into the living room.

"Uchiha Itachi." The blue haired woman addressed and added a small nod as not to seem rude,

"Konan." Itachi responded, nodding in return. " I would assume you have news for me?"

o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o

The dark liquid within the teacup swirled and rose dangerously towards the edge as the delicate hand in which it was being held continued to spin in blindly. Finally it rose and disappeared in one forced gulp.

Sasuke raised his eyebrow once again at the uncharacteristic actions of the woman sitting in front of him. Who would've guessed 'Sunshine' wasn't more of a morning person, or was it just him that left her in a bitter state of mind? If so he would've gladly done things differently but since he believed in seizing things at the first opportunity at which they presented themselves and also that he was already there, there wasn't much he could do about it.

"Have you apologized?" the question came out of nowhere and took Sasuke by surprise,

"Excuse me?" he asked, not sure if the Hyuuga Heiress was address him or the rays of sunlight that shone through the window behind him. If it were the window, he wouldn't be surprised of her asking for an apology….

"I asked if you've already apologized or not. So have you?" she asked once again, the prominent fog of sleep quietly disappearing as she became more hands on to the present demands of the day.

Sasuke looked away schooling his expression to remain neutral

"No, not yet. Why?" he asked, though he knew the answer himself. Obviously his little blonde boyfriend had sought his present companion as that of a confidant, which would explain the lack of surprised that would've normally accompanied complaining of relationship problems; these things she already knew.

"And you're waiting for what?" HInata asked, her voice calm and steady. Sasuke smiled, he had noticed before but now that they were alone together, talking, he had finally seen the presence the girl had acquired with the loss of her childhood stutter. Though he had to admit, it had made her seem more 'cute'.

Thinking of the perfect, indirect, answer possible, he refocused on her ready to play 'ring around the rosie'.

"Listen, Sasuke," she unpredictably interrupted, "I know that you know what it is that you have to do, so what is it really that you want me to do to help you? Cause sitting here beating around the bush isn't going to help no one, I assure you." She said pinning him with her eyes.

Sasuke looked on and then hung his head in defeat, she was right, of that he was sure but he just couldn't bring himself to do the things that was most important for him to do. This was the second person whom he had consulted on a way to solve his problem, his brother wasn't of much help, other than letting him truly realize his feelings for the blond and now Hinata, since she was the only one he though would mock him least about his present deplorable state.

Looking up at her once more, his mask off, his true self exposed for this person to see, his obvious shortcomings and failure in plain view and last, as his Uchiha pride crumbled his true motive of coming there revealed itself.

"Help me." He said, his eyes pleading, " I don't… I just… Help me please. I need to fix things…. I can't, I can't lose him…. Cause I ….. I have strong feelings….. I love him" hanging his head once again as the realization of his imperfection as an Uchiha, his limitations as a man were laid out.

A soft touch brought him back from his building depression as his chin was lifted upwards,

"With all that I can, I will help you." Hinata said smiling softly, apparently she was the new Dr. Phil of her circle of friends, and was hell bend on helping them fix things, she just had to.

o.o.o.o.o.o.o

Naruto looked at the scribbled lines, circles and boxes on the paper he held and then tried flipping it over and over again, but no matter what angle he looked at it from, the damn thing still seemed to make no sense. And the worst part of it was that he was the one who drew it. Reaching for his cell once again he speed dialed Hinata's number and yet again was meet with the voice mail.

"Kuso, Hinata!!" he screamed and then reached for the map, or poor excuse for a map rather and tried to decipher it. Why Hinata had called him and asked to meet her at this godforsaken part of town, he had no idea and with his current location and lack of which direction in which to drive, he was pretty sure he wasn't going to be on time.

Said blond man quickly stuck his head out the window when he saw someone crossing the street in front him.

"OI! Oi oi oi!" he screamed beckoning the man over, " Er, excuse me, do you know how to get to Nokato Park. I got this here map but I honestly am totally lost." He admitted. The man took the map from the blond's hand, did one look over and then turned back to the blond, who was presently scratching the back of his head with a stupid grin plastered all over his face.

Scrunching the map '**cough'** doodle up in his hands, the man threw the ball of paper into the nearest bin, all to Naruto's dismay.

"oi! I drew that!" he shouted as he watched the man turn and then left walking up the street.

"Figures." Said man mumbled as he continued on his way. Poor blond was too shocked to do anything other than blink.

o.o.o.o.o.o.

Naruto sunk deeper in depression as he ended the call once again as it was the voicemail that was activated. He had no other way to contact Hinata, no idea where he was and no map. Sighing heavily he turned to get back into his car and try to find some kind of station or store or other living breathing human being at least, when he saw the same man from before walking down the street towards him.

"OI! You're the teme form before!" he screamed. The man stopped, blinked and then handed a piece of paper towards him. Naruto cautiously examined the extended arm and it's contents and then took the paper from him. It turned out to be a map, an actually map and not one that put all maps known to shame. His depression vanishing completely.

"Is this the way to Nokato Park?" he asked, grin already in tow. The man nodded.

"Yatta, thank you, thank you thank you." He sang hanging unto the man neck. It was a little surprising and disappointing when his hug was not returned but he was rather roughly pushed away, but that didn't deter his new found determination. Quickly getting back into the car, he sped off to the desired location.

The man looked on as the car turned the corner and then disappeared, reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a cell phone and dialed.

"Hello?" came the hushed female voice, " Who is this?"

"He's on his way." The man replied, he stoic face bursting into a smile, "You don't have to whisper like that you know, only makes it seem like you're living up to your name, Mouse Chan," he said laughing

"Chi, whatever dog boy. Did he recognize you?" the woman asked,

"Nah, nah, that blond's way to dense to ever realized who I was." He said with a satisfied grunt

"Hey. Watch it!" Came a gruff male voice in the background, the man frowned.

"Hinata!" He said threateningly, dragging out each syllable of the name.

"Oh! Did I not mention you were on speaker? Sorry Kiba Kun. Thanks, bye!"

Kiba stared at the phone in his hand then smiled, his fangs showing.

'What could those two possibly be up to?' he asked himself? Who knew, but when an Uchiha and a Hyuuga got together with the main participant being a blond idiot, it's sure to be anything but uneventful.

Pulling of his beanie and scarf, he whistled his companion over. He knew the blond was dense but I didn't think is was that much dense that having Akamaru around wouldn't have given him away.

"Lets go enjoy the show, boy." He said, as the large white dog gave a happy agreeing woof.

--

Thank to all who have reviewed and favorited my attempt at a story. arigato .

till next time Ja!


	12. Clouded foresight

Hello again,

Got a lot of favorite story alerts, Arigato mina san!

Here's the new chapter, Enjoy!

...

Hinata smiled sheepishly at her present partner in crime.

"I'm sure he didn't mean anything by it." She said, a nervous smile playing on her lips as she tried defending her friend. Sasuke turned and then scowled,

"You think I have time to spend on that half brained twit? Hn"

Hinata smiled genuinely this time as the though of the actually displeasure that had appeared on Sasuke's face when he heard what it was that Kiba had said.

"Thank the dog boy for me, if ever you get the chance, though it is not a necessity." He mumbled as he walked pass her.

Yes, Kiba had to be thanked indeed. To be asked on a minute's notice to drive to a pretty much desolated part of town, in disguise, in order to point an unaware victim of a forthcoming event in the right direction was not something that happens every other day. Though, Hinata had a distinct feeling that there would be favors claimed in the near future.

o.o.o.o.o.

Itachi listened attentively as Konan pointed on the details of the job which was just appointed him from the head of the company, but this attentiveness was frequently disturbed by the thought of a bold man in a bar and an unfinished task he had with a certain daughter of a certain wealthy family. This was not good, never before had anything taken preference over his work and he had no intentions of letting anything do. Something had to be done, distractions from a desired route, to him, was not acceptable, and that certain woman was proving to be a greater distraction that he had first imagined or had allowed himself to think. Yes, something needed to be done. And this trip might just be it.

Examining the folder of papers in his hands, he glanced at the time duration and decided that it was more that sufficient to get rid of his fast growing, never fading obsession.

o.o.o.o.o

Sasuke nervously walked from one end of the room to the other, glanced at his watch and then repeated his previous actions in the opposite direction, as he neared the window, he looked out of it, scanning the parking lot and the road just beyond it, the same things he was doing over and over for the past half hour. Sighing, Hinata rose from the small round table at which she was sitting and walked over to him,

"He's gonna be here." She said,

Sasuke looked over, his face expressionless, while his eyes flashed slight anxiety

"On time?" he asked, Hinata's comforting smile fell just slightly but didn't disappear,

"That's why we made sure to have the extra half hour window. It's going to be fine." She said, praying she was right.

Sasuke Hn'ed, glanced at his watch and then started for the other side of the room.

o.o.o.o.o.

Tsunade looked up from the file in her hands and towards her guest.

"You want me to assign one of my best doctors to this? This poor excuse of a medical case?" she said

"Tsunade sama, you have to consider…" her assistant Shizune began before he was interrupted.

"I see you have adjusted quite well to your surrounding, Tsunade. And to think there was even the slightest thought that you would not be fit to be chief of medicine. I applaud your seemingly endless supply of capabilities. But did you not learn from the many and various places you have been these past 10, 20 years of the chain of command in a present day Hospital?"

Tsunade's hands instinctively steepled beneath her chin as she concentrated on appearing civil while controling her anger, her guest when on.

"As, I am sure you already know, a hospital is a business, not much unlike any other business firm you would find out there, and thus this business has to be able to function properly and by function properly I mean this business has to be operating in a way that there has to be profits. The very profits that help all those unfortunate sick people as well as ensure on your yearly bonus, Tsunade Hime." The woman continued.

Shizune looked over in Tsunade's direction, only to be greeted by a site she knew was no good. Gripping the folders she held closely to her chest, she pleaded which every deity she knew, so that this meeting would end peacefully and above all with no broken bones… or walls. Looking over to the older woman, Shizune saw the woman smile, a strange menacing facial expression filled with ill intent, she continued,

"Now in order for this business to produce such profits, certain cases have to be taken on, and these cases are most usually chosen and assigned in line of the chain of command, a chain that cannot be broken or breached, do you know of this chain Tsunade? For if you do, I am sure, that your previous refusal was just a mistake, a slip of the tongue I could over look. You were assigned chief of medicine, but you were not the only candidate for the job, and not only that, but you, my dear Tsunade Hime have superiors, superiors you have to respect. One of your doctors will be assigned to this case. Do you have any objections?" the woman concluded, shifting her glasses up her nose as she regarded the woman before her.

One glance at Tsunade and it was clear to Shizune, she didn't know close to enough deities.

o.o.o.o.o.o

Draining the last drop of the soup from its container, Naruto returned the bowl to the counter and gave a sigh of satisfaction. The oji san behind the desk was in full grin as he considered the man before him, laughing heartily he asked,

"So, is this not the best ramen you have ever tasted?"

Naruto turned to him, a blank expression on his face, the old man's smile faded,

"Are, you okay lad?" he asked, showing slight concern

The blond rose from his stool in front the counter, his long bangs shrouding half of his face in shadow. His hands clenched into tight fists as he leaned into the desk. The old man took one look at the lad and moved away from what looked too much like an ominous sight before jumping in surprised at the sudden sound of a man's fist hitting wood.

"Yatta! That was some great ramen jiji san!" the blond man shouted, his face now covered in a large grin, his eyes closed in merriment, hiding their brilliant azure color. The old man looked on shocked,

"The flavor, the texture of the noodles, the blend of spices….., Yosh! I have to tell old man Ichiraku that he has great competition on this side of the city. At first I was slightly offended in place of the old man for the declaration of your sign saying, "Best ramen in Konoha" but you might just be right." Naruto practically shouted, he glanced over to the list of different flavors of ramen available, he mouth watering, stomach growling in anticipation.

"I have decided!" he suddenly declared, as the old man regained his wits when he realized the young man was not a treat,

"Decided?" he asked

"Hai! I have decided, that you will be my second best ramen provider. This will be so great, to have two specialist at the creation of the food of the gods, "Ramen". Sugoi! Lucky!"

Swinging his arm around the old man neck, startling him once more, Naruto's grin grew,

"With this new store, I might even get that teme here to try some. Oh! And Hinata, because she's so cool… wait, Hinata, why does that……" And as rare as this occurs Naruto Uzumaki actually concentrated on what was the reason behind his sudden feelings of urgency….

"ahhhh tai hennan!" He shouted as he remembered why he was out in this part of town in the first place, releasing the man and deposing a few bills on the counter, he dashed to his car, shouting,

"Thank you, thank you oji san, your ramen was much enjoyable, I have to go now, but don't worry, I'll be back….!" Were the last words heard before he zoomed of down the road.

The old man sighed, his shocked expression changing into a grin,

"What an interesting young fellow." He said smiling.

o.o.o.o.o.o

A few minutes passed before a car identical to the one the blond man had left in zoomed down the street once more, just that this time in the opposite direction. Upon close examination the old man could clearly see the illuminated silly grinning face of a young blond man. His smile immediately turned into piles of laughter.

"Interesting indeed!"

o.o..o.o.o

Reviewing the details which were just told to him and momentarily checking his location on his GPS monitor, Itachi proceeded in the eventual execution of his final plan before his departure. There was something he had to do before he left, there was only so much you could leave up in the air at a particular point in time with hopes it doesn't come crashing down on you, and he didn't like leaving things unfinished.

o.o.o.o.o.o

"So, at five, we start." the owner, a willowy man with a rather peculiar cheerfulness about him began as he approached the waiting couple, carrying a small clip board on which he apparently was checking off certain details

"Make that five thirty." Sasuke interrupted, his face the perfect picture of frustration, Hinata smiled nervously,

"Yes…um, it's best we make it five thirty." She said

"But, I… er" the man began,

Being suddenly pinned by the Uchiha's cold glare, the man opted to shutting his mouth and making the necessary changes with the schedule.

"So, we start at five thirty, which then pushes everything back a half hour." The man grumbled, " well then, lets review shall we?" he asked, Hinata nodded in agreement, while Sasuke merely pulled out a chair from a neighboring table and sat.

"Okay, now, we have the intro at five…. I mean five thirty, then the song, the presentation, your..." he said pointing to Hinata, but as she blushed and then quickly pointed in the direction of her companion, he revised his speech,

"I mean your little speech, and then we drink in celebration of the acceptance, well that is assuming he will accept, cause you never know how this things will turn." two dark eyes turned, focused and glared as the man continued unaware.

"Yeah, I mean, everything could go perfectly and still you are greeted with rejection but if he does accept well then we drink until we're shit faced, ne? ne? hahaha."

The merry laughter soon died as he caught a glimpse of the already threatening looking brunette.

"Aha ha ha……. Right. I'll be going now." He said humbly before ducking into the back of the store. Hinata looked over at Sasuke and sighed loudly drawing his attention. But before she could say anything, he left the room heading in the direction of the parking lot. Looking at him leave, she sighed again, why hadn't she ever noticed before how much of an emo Sasuke was?

Just as she was turning in the direction of the bar, Sasuke came bursting through the entrance.

"He's here!" he said, his eyes flashing with panic, a sight which was not very common, if it happened at all, but there were more important things at hand than revile in the rare and uncharacteristic.

"What?! Now?! He's here now?"

"Yes, he's here now, wasn't that what I just said?" Sasuke retorted,

"But, but, we just changed the schedule…"

"So, how's it going?" a familiar voice said to the left of where they were standing. Two pairs of eyes turned to the speaker, who backed up a step while putting out his hands in defense,

"Whoa there, I was just….."

"Shut up and stay our of sight!" Hinata order before she dashed in the direction of the owner's office,

"Wow, what was that?" the man replied, a whine sounding from large furry dog at his feet as well,

"Dude…" he began before Sasuke turned to him and glared,

"Yeah, yeah, I got it, shut up and stay out of sight, sheesh, what's up with them?" he asked no one in particular,

"Come on Akamaru, the bar tender's ten times more welcoming than these two." He said to his canine companion who barked once in agreement.

o.o.o.o.o.o

Kenji, as it turned out the owner was named, practically jumped out of his skin as Hinata burst through his office doors. Don't get the wrong idea, I mean, a beautiful woman rushing into your office unannounced might have been any man's fantasy but from the way her eyes gleamed and the obvious adrenaline rush she was experienced had him at edge in a second.

"We have to start, now!" she stated bluntly, the man looked on confused

"What? Now? Didn't you just change the schedule to 5:30? It's only 5:10" he said glancing at his watch. Stalking up to his desk, Hinata slammed her hands down on marble table top, inwardly flinching as pain shot up her arm, she schooled her expression in concentration and locked eyes with the man regaining his full attention

"He's here. We have to start now." She said plainly and calmly, though it held more ominous intent than when she had actually shouted.

"Please." She said, her eyes pleading. The man looked up feeling himself getting lost in their seemingly pearly white appearance. As his mind got into gear as well, motivation coursed through his veins as he got his own personal shot of adrenaline.

"The DJ!" he said, quickly moving around his desk to where Hinata was standing,

"Where is he?" she asked impatiently

"Out back, he left to take a smoke."

"Got it!" Hinata shouted before dashing out the door once more, the owner leaving for the kitchen to give instructions to the waiters about the cake.

Rushing back into the main room with the DJ, Hinata caught a glimpse of Sasuke as he stood almost frozen near the entrance of the bar. Quickly moving to his side she grabbed unto his arm dragging him to a more inconspicuous location, before she left to welcome her guest through the doors,

"It's going to be alright, it's going to be alright." Was the mantra going through three individual's head in that bar, that particular night, all hoping they were right. The odd-man-out's only thoughts were "Stay out of sight and shut up!"

o.o.o.o.o.o

You know what to do, Hit that review button :P

Until next time, Ja ne!


	13. Collide

Two in one day, must be a new record, :P, actually the chapter was just too long as one excerpt, so I split it. Rather emotional chapter, wrote it at 3:00 am! whenever inspiration hits ne?

Anyways, hope you enjoy, oh and I personally recommend listening to Howie Day's Collide while reading this chapter, that song just kinda makes the feelings come alive.

I, of course do not own Naruto, pfft, like someone cares.

Enjoy!

...

"Hehe, sorry I'm late." Naruto said laughing while he nervously scratched the back of his head, "But you see I saw this really cool ramen shop just up the…"

"No, I'm sorry you're 'not' late." Hinata mumbled as she hooked her hands in his and pulled him into the bar.

"Eh? Did you saw something HInata?" the blond inquired

"Oh, no, nothing. This is us." She answered, referring to the table they had stopped at,

"So, why are we here?" Naruto asked as he scanned the room. The bar was large yes, and more of a small restaurant than a large bar but there was nothing special about this place, nothing that particularly jumped out at except the Dj, which was a weird addition.

"Thought we needed a new scene, I hear the burgers here are really good." She said offhandedly, but really what was so special about this place. She hadn't objected when Sasuke mentioned it caused it seemed sort of important to him, but then again she could be wrong since he was as emotionless then, like he always was.

"Burgers?" Naruto asked slightly confused,

"Did I say… I meant Ramen. They say the ramen here is really good." She saved quickly and then thanked the deities when the music started and interrupted Naruto's next question.

"Okay, tonight we're gonna kick off with a little Snow Patrol, you know you love it, here's Signal Fire from the Spiderman 3 sound track"

Naruto's eyes once again wondered around the room, this place was new, yes, but it held a strange familiarity to it, had he ever been here before? Suddenly, from the corner of his eyes, it seemed like he saw someone emerge and then slip back into the cover of darkness, strange, maybe it was just his unfamiliarity with the place causing him to hallucinate. He turned towards Hinata, ready to bombard her with questions once again about their present location but something far more interesting caught his sight,

"Sasuke?" he whispered as he saw a familiar sight among the unfamiliarity of the bar,

"Sasuke!" he shouted as his thoughts were confirmed as the said man turned in their direction for the slightest of glances, quickly rising to his feet he crossed the room towards him.

"What are you doing here?" he asked, genuinely intrigued,

"I can ask you the same thing." Came the monotone response.

It was one thing to be invited to such a desolated place out of the blue by Hinata, but to meet…..wait, turning slowing towards his host, Naruto marched back to his table,

"You set me up?" he asked calmly looking at the pretty brunette before him. HInata's eyes grew in diameter as the shock and guilt manifested it self in physical form over her features,

"Anou, Naruto kun…" she began,

"You set me up! I trusted you Hinata chan, how could you?!" came the boisterous voice of the blond man to silence the fidgeting woman,

"I came to you… I trusted you ad this..." he said pointing towards Sasuke, "This is how you repay me?" as the hurt impression grew over the Uzumaki youth's face, the guilt and feeling of betrayal grew over the Hyuuga Heiress'. Taking one last glance at his long time friend, Naruto turned towards the exit and moved to leave but soft delicate hands stopped him

"Wait, please, Naruto kun, I know… I know you trusted me in what you told me… and.. this…. Please wait" HInata said pleadingly. She had made a promise to help her friends and though presently it seemed that she had betrayed him, in actually she thought this was best, though it was nothing close to what they had originally planned. Letting go of Naruto's arm she moved to Sasuke,

"Don't you dare stand here and hid behind that fake stoic expression of yours Uchiha Sasuke, you asked for my help and I promised I would, but I can only do this much, this rest is up to you." She said before she moved to the side, and towards the manger who had appeared when the shouting started.

"I need to talk to you." Came the same monotone expressionless voice directed towards Naruto.

"The last time you spoke to me, Uchiha, you reduced me to tears, and I promise you that will never happen again." Naruto said turning, anger obvious from his tone,

"That was not my intent." Sauke said, inwardly sighing

"Oh? Well then, what was your intent, Uchiha Sasuke?" Naruto asked, giving his full attention.

" I was merely trying to explain…."

"Oh no, you were not explaining, you were stating. You were stating and I understand what you said." The blond man said as he turned towards the exit once more. Balling his hands into fists, Sasuke fought the urge to scream, and lost.

"No Naruto, you misunderstand what it is I meant." He shouted after him. In the back of his mind Sasuke sensed the shit was about the hit the fan. Things were getting messy.

Turning, his eyes blazing with fury, Naruto stalked back to his previous lover's position, until he was a hair's breadth away from invading his personal space,

"What is there to misunderstand? You said there was something lacking in our relationship, that it was not heading in the direction that you had originally thought, that you needed some time to think of where we stood as a couple. That you needed some time alone to figure out what to do, how you felt and if I fit. Don't you think I know a sophisticated break up when I hear it?" he said, an inch away form shouting,

"That's not what I meant." Sasuke retorted

"No, it's exactly what you meant Sasuke, because that Uchiha pride of yours wouldn't have you wasting time trying to explain something that you didn't find yourself justified in stating. You say what you mean and you mean what you say and it applies for that time too. There is no exceptions.." Naruto said, mumbling out the last line as he once again turned to leave, only this time he didn't go far,

"You know you were the first bond I had, the first real bond I put my faith in, that I trusted in, that I believed in. I didn't have anyone when I was younger and still suffered for it as a child, but there was always that thought that I would find someone that would help me realize that I wasn't a lost case, that I wasn't graced with only bad luck. Never did I imagine that I would be my rival, my archenemy, my exact opposite, but it was, you gave me purpose Sasuke, a purpose that my loneliness tried to snuff out since I was a child. With you, I liked the prospect of another day, even rainy days were like a test to my devotion, my life….. I ….. I …" the word seemed to get harder and harder to pronounce as the mist that grew in his eyes increased. A pain came across his chest and settled there, his heart ached, his lungs burned and his vision was blurred, though no tears fell from sheer will power alone. Taking a deep breath, his vision cleared slightly and he saw the one who his speech was directed towards, Sasuke was staring at the floor, his knuckles white from the force at which he held his hands, the aura around him dark, it was an unsavory sight.

"I really did think that I had gotten my big break, my release from the seemingly eternal torment but I guess, noting good lasts forever…"

"Shut up." Came the small whisper from barely moving lips,

"This might be the end but I still hope to be.."

"Shut up!" this time it was louder and more forceful,

"Sasuke? It's alright you don't have to be angry, I'll be alright" came the soft broken voice but it was soon silenced.

"Shut up!" Sasuke screamed looking up, his face twisted in surprisingly not anger but pain

"Do you think it was easy for me? Do you think I had it easy? You didn't have any parents; you grew up an orphan you never knew what it was like to feel a mother's love or a father's approval. You don't know how it feels to have it and then have it taken away from you. You don't know what it feels like to watch the once around you turn into shells of human beings in their pursuit for power but I do, I witnessed it with my own eyes, you had no choice, but I had no strength, I saw it happening but I couldn't stop it, I couldn't do anything to prevent the inevitable. I had everything I could possible ask for and nothing of what I really needed. You had no choice, I didn't have a choice either Naruto, I had to become what I am today, I had to find a way to repress all the feelings I once held for the one's around me in order to coexist with them civilly, I had to sacrifice my childhood pursuing a dream which wasn't even mine…."

"Sasuke…"

"Shut up, so don't you tell me about bonds, for I wouldn't have understood then, but now…. You rescued me Uzumaki Naruto, you gave **Me** purpose and not the other way around. I too was a shell of a human before you came along, you gave me character and taught me how to smile, to appreciate the little things in life, like respect, something you had been neglected all your life…"

Slowly the brunette took caution steps towards the blond

"You helped me live, truly live." Sasuke said as he was now infront of Naruto, he bowed his head as he now couldn't face the Uzumaki youth

"You misunderstand Naruto, that's not what I meant when I told you there was something lacking in our relationship….. There is no Uchiha pride when I am with you, do you know how hard it is to keep these feelings at bay around you, do you know how I struggle to appear sane around you?" dropping to his knees, the Uchiha male looked up into the face of his beloved

"Daisuke Uzumaki Naruto, it took almost losing you to realize I couldn't run from my feelings anymore… I…. I love you."

By now the room was completely silent, the song had ended but the DJ was too caught up in the events before him to care, the manger beside Hinata was wavering between feeling astonished or worried over lost business, since no one was ordering anything but rather glued to the lover's spat in their midst, beside him the Hyuuga Heiress was on the verge or tears, never before had she witnessed such a fierce portrayal of complete devotion and to think she was of any part of it just made her feel honored.

Reaching for the small box in his jacket pocket, Sasuke's eyes never left Naruto's as he presented its contents. The small platinum ring glistened from the light of the overhead lamp up at Naruto, who was presently speechless, a rare occurrence.

"Uzumaki Naruto, I know that I'm not the best person…"

Suddenly dropping to his knees aswell, Naruto embraced Sasuke around the neck

"Baka." Sasuke chided softly, "You're suppose to stay standing." The warmth emitting from the other male though was quite comforting.

"Sasu." Naruto whispered as he buried his face deeper in the other's neck

"Marry me."

Two simple words that meant so much to the one saying it and to whom they were said.

Pulling away from the brunette, Naruto scowled

"What do you think, you ahou" he said, but as Sasuke's eyes never left his, he smiled, "Yes, teme." And that was the first time a room full of unsuspecting patrons saw a Uchiha smile.

o.o.o.o.o.o

Snapping the third pencil I her hands Tsunade slammed her fist on the table, damn those board members, damn them all, each one of their wrinkly selves. Flipping through the case file once more, she couldn't seem to see past the obvious misuse of a medical specialist in order to rein in large profits on the hospital's part, her hospital damn it! She'd be needing some sake tonight, lots and lots of it. Just as she was about to page in her two top available residents, her assistant came barging into the room

"We got it!" she shouted,

"Got what?" Tsunade asked, her mood still crabby from the meeting,

Raising a red case file in her hands, Shizune smiled,

"We got it!" she repeated

Tsunade reached into the drawer next to her elbow and pulled out a small envelope with the words, " Directors: Hot Spring resort" printed on the front and threw it towards Shizune, who caught it effortlessly. Eyeing the envelope quizzically, Shizune looked up confused,

"Six bottles of sake," Tsunade said with out the slightest falter, Shizuen gasped,

"Six?! Tsusande Shishou…" she said,

"Not only do we have something to lament over but now something also worth celebrating" Tsunade said, an evil glint in her eye. Shizune smiled, nodded and left,

"Yosh! Now for my two best girls." Were the last words said before two electronic pages left to find their master's receiver.

o.o.o.o.o.o

As he entered the door of the small pub, Itachi was meet with a very very unfamiliar sight, his little brother and only sibling was embracing his blond companion and smiling, a smile he had not seen since they were children, a smile he feared his brother had lost. His misjudgment was a welcomed realization.

The sudden uproar of applause had him a little startled, what had he missed? Scanning the crowd he saw the object of his quest and silently moved towards her.

Hinata stood there clapping along with everyone else, her joy overflowing in tears that stained her cheeks, she hadn't had the slightest idea that Sasuke had intended to propose, but everything turned out all right and that's what mattered.

Feeling her pocket vibrate, she moved to the corner, her eyes still lingering on the newly engaged couple as they shared their third kiss on the witnesses' lively yet good hearted demands. She took one look at the message and her smile grew, could this day get any better? Glancing once more at her friends, she saw that they were too caught up in each other to care of much else, wishing them a silent congratulations, she moved towards the door where she saw something that made her day seem oh so much better.

Caught in the mood of the surroundings and her own overflowing joy, she acted without reason, as the gap between her and the other Uchiha male in her life, excluding patients, closed, Hinata skillfully wrapped her hands around Itachi's neck and before he knew what was happening, she met him with the most dragged out, drugging, engulfing kiss they had ever shared. Breaking for air, she smiled, pecked him on the lips one last time and then giggled

"How nice to see you again, Uchiha san!" she said before she walked around him and then out the door. The shocked, bewildered expression on Itachi's face was priceless, pity no one noticed.

o.o.o.o.o

Pulling out of the close embrace, Naruto traced the line of Sasuke's jaw smiling,

"Why here?" he asked, "Why this place?"

Moving out of the others arms, Sasuke stood behind his blond fiancé and wrapped his arms around his waist,

"Cause I was preparing myself for rejection." He said as he laid his head on Naruto's shoulder, "And I wanted to share this last moment with you."

With that said he grabbed unto the curtains reins and yanked them open. Suddenly the room was filled with the amber rays of the setting sun, the deep orange, scarlet and mustard yellow reflecting to illuminate the room in their brilliance. The world seemed dyed orange.

Naruto, placing his hands above Sasuke's whispered,

"But I said 'yes'", Sasuke's grip instinctively tightened as he buried his head deeper in Naruto's neck, inhaling the scent of sunshine and sandalwood… and Ramen. He smiled, this scent was his Naruto, a scent he'd come to love, glancing at his watch, he looked up to the sky

"And that's why, we get these." Sasuke responded, as the sky was suddenly littered with the momentary sparkling of falling stars, like guiding lights to the fading sunlight and the approaching night. Resembling disappearing of loneliness and despair and the advance of companionship and joy.

"That's where you and I collide."

o.o.o.o.o.o

What's your take on it? Have any opinions? Then, Leave a review.

Tell next time, Ja ne.


	14. Coffee and donuts

Heyo, mina san.

Firstly, thank you to all the reviewers; you actually helped me find some inspiration. You guys are my writer's ambrosia. (Shine)

and without further delay, **enjoy!**

Oh, right, I don't own Naruto, yadda yadda yadda, blah blah blah.

…..

Hinata woke with the sun, just as the dark of night was penetrated by the early morning sun rays, her eyes had popped opened. Glancing at her clock she saw it was still ridiculously early and so did what any normal sleep loving person would do, she went back to bed. Three hours later a pillow haired, yawning Hyuuga strolled into the kitchen,

"Ohayo Oka san, Otou san." She said respectfully as she tried keeping her balance as she bowed,

"Ohayo!" Kyrie replied heartily, her husband giving a slight nod himself. Hinata stumbled to the table and then plopped down into the closest chair, her chin resting on its surface. Hiashi looked over his newspaper at his eldest child; an eye browed rose at her hair, now inside the sugar bow, it made an interesting picture, he then sighed and went back to his article on foreign clan politics.

"Taost?" Kyrie directed towards her daughter but was meet with semi lidded vacant eyes and a growl of refusal.

"Sleep?" she amended in regards to her daughter's appearance, buttering some toast for herself,

"Naruto's getting married." Came the slow dragged out voice of the young woman.

"Oh?" her mother replied with little interest, as she knew Hinata wasn't really trying to have a conversation, as she was just producing sound.

"Really he is." Hinata stated more forcefully as she her head snapped up from the table to look between her parents.

"Suminasen" She said bowing slightly as her father's eyes turned to her. "I'm gonna go get ready." She said before bowing again and then left the room.

Hiashi continued reading his paper, paying particular attention to the article at the bottom of the page, until his wife broke his focus,

"Ahem" she coughed, trying to get his attention. Instead the Hyuuga head decided to continue his reading, but after a while gave in

"I can feel you glaring at me you know." He said turning to a silently fuming Kyrie.

"That's good." She said as she continued eating her toast, her eyes finally off him.

"I didn't say anything." Hiashi said in his defense. Kyrie looked up from her magazine over at her husband with uninterested yet probing eyes and then turned back to her reading material. Hiashi, feeling himself justified, smiled inwardly and decided to have some breakfast himself. Folding and resting his newspaper on the chair next to him, he reached for a plate and then a butter knife.

Bagels and cream cheese was nothing close to the traditional Japanese breakfast but Hiashi had learned to enjoy this little piece of western culture very much. Seeing her husband move to prepare himself some breakfast, Kyrie closed her magazine and moved towards the coffee pot to pour him a cup of coffee. In doing so, an idea of retribution struck her.

Bowing slightly as he accepted the hot cup of coffee from his wife, the Hyuuga clan leader smiled, this was the life. Beautiful wife, healthy, almost independent children; though he enjoyed the fact of keeping his daughters close to home, and a steamy cup of coffee on a beautiful autumn morning.

Blowing the steam from the surface of the hot opaque liquid and in turn cooling it, Hiashi raised the mug to his lips and took a long delightful sip. He anticipated the warmt of the beverage warming his insides against the increasing cooling weather as winter crept in, the aroma filling his nostrils and telling a story of the beans' harvest ground and impeccable lineage, but instead was met with the stingingly, sickeningly sweet taste of something that in no way represented coffee. Sputtering to a great extent while trying to keep a civil composure, Hiashi turned his now watering eyes to his wife,

"Woman?!" he shouted, his tongue still tingling from the syrupy brew.

Slowing rising from her chair, Kyrie moved towards the door leading out of the kitchen, then turning mischievous eyes at her husband, she smiled,

"Suminasen?" she said, before disappearing through the doors.

o.o.o.o.o

It was already nine o'clock when Hinata kissed her parents goodbye and headed out the door. The tension between then was surprising and yet humorous as her mother was having great fun in mocking her husband as he tried to keep a straight face and stay angry at her at the same time. She had decided on taking the bus to the hospital that day, partly because the day seemed so grand and beautiful and partly because her car was in the garage for the tri-month check up her father had insisted on.

There was a bus stop not too far from the entrance to her clan compound, which was rather convenient and useful.

Waiting for the bus, a known dislike to commuting patrons, on this particular day was proving to be of great enjoyment to the Hyuuga Heiress. The trees lining the sidewalks of the rural establishment swayed with the gentle breeze, their scarlet, yellow and orange leaves dancing on the sudden up drafts, before they feel once again to the ground like small fragments of yesterday's sun rays. Winter was near, it was in the air, the autumn breeze was guiding it to the small village of Konaha and Hinata couldn't be more pleased. Taking in a big breath Hinata couldn't help but smile, the day was starting off quite well, and then the sudden honking of a familiar horn made it seem that it was getting better.

o.o.o.o.o.

Shisui looked on with mild amusement and irritancy as Itachi seeped his cup of coffee with agonizing slowness. The Uchiha Genius had arrived home from his little excursion, with a very miffed expression on his face and a baffled glint in his eyes. Upon questioning Shisui had learned nothing of what had happened to cause his little cousin such discomfort; so much so that he had been up all night trying to figure it out. It was about the Hyuuga, he had assumed that much, but what could she have done to render the great Uchiha Itachi to be in a messed of his own thoughts. And now, said man was bustling around the room getting his things ready for his trip, apparently he had come to some sort of conclusion or emblem of one because now he was not stalking the rooms with a vacant look in his eyes.

"You're not going to need those." He said as he saw Itachi drop a pair of blue Hawaiian beach shorts into his carry-on. Itachi looked up from his packing and then to the shorts,

"Right." He said, removing them, but putting them on the chair at arms length away.

" I thought you hated those?" Shisui asked, dragging his hand over his face as the exhaustion of watching his cousin's pacing of the previous night began to set it.

"Hate what?" came the monotone reply as Itachi continued with his packing unmindful of the startled looked that was now plastered on his cousin's face.

Shisui sighed dejectedly flopping back unto his bed; apparently his cousin had not reached a conclusion. This was becoming quite troublesome.

o.o.o.o.o.

Hinata stepped out of the bus several stops from her intended destination with a bright red blush covering her face. Bowing in thanks to the bus driver her blushed deepened as he laughed heartily at her red face before nodding in return. The doors closed and the bus drove off leaving an embarrassed Hinata standing on one of the city sidewalks twiddling her fingers. It wasn't a familiar part of town but it was better than being in a public bus with a growling stomach. Petty it seemed, yes, but to a girl raised to be a lady, it was far too much an embarrassment to endure.

Hinata scolded herself mentally for deciding against taking breakfast at home and now she was nowhere close to the hospital and famished. And then something wafted across her nose. A faint, fragrant scent, the scent of light delicacies and black, no green tea. Literally following her nose, Hinata made her way along the sidewalk until she arrived at the entrance of an international pastry shop. It was much like a heaven sent little establishment on the side of the street, she was saved.

"Irasshaimase" came the harmonious voices of the waitresses and attendants in the store as Hinata walked through the front doors. Accepting the guidance of one of the attendants, she was lead to a table close to the display windows of the store and just as she was about to decline a seat of such exposure she felt the warmth of the location. Apparently the seats being close to the windows meant that during winter they were rather cold and so to counter their customers discomfort the store mangers had set up a special heater system for this section specifically. Smiling with appreciation at the waitress, Hinata removed her jacket, and folded it neatly before laying it on the chair opposite her. Her bag pack she let rest on the side of her chair before she picked up the menu and scanned through the choices.

o.o.o.o.o

The flight attendant smiled brightly at the passengers as they left the plan and walked out towards the airport. Her smile faded though when one particular passenger walked pass her and though he paid her no mind, she had the greatest feeling of being inferior to him for some unclear reason or it could have been the fear the griped her at his stare, at his mere presence. All in all, watching him leave the plan was the best scene she'd ever witnessed.

o.o.o.o.o.

"Get the car." Came the direct order as the entourage made their way towards the airport exits.

"Hai! Kazekage dono." Shouted one of the attendants in response to the order.

Their short procession towards the doors receiving not a few stares and pointing fingers from the people around them, even airport security stayed a safe distance away, and seemingly for the right reasons.

Light turquoise eyes looked up at the morning sun of the village of Konaha, his fiery red hair waving in the gentle breeze that whispered of cold weather to come. Running his hand through his naturally messy hair, revealing his tattoo of the Kanji Ai, Gaara took in the greenness of the town and decided then and there, he didn't like it.

o.o.o.o.o.

Hinata looked up from her plate of Chicken potpie delicately placed in a tender buttery pastry shell, her fork still paused mid way to her mouth, as the waitress placed her order of a Buchette Declice slice on her table with a wide smile. Just looking at the chocolate covered dish urged her to abandon her puff pastry and dig into in but the potpie itself was so savory, she couldn't dare desert it. How had she not known of this place before? Kohana wasn't that big a town, and the people weren't very reclusive either, word of great food like this, at such insane prices should have already spread like wildfire all over the village. But it hadn't. Smiling devilishly to herself, Hinata took another bite of her potpie and motioned the attendant over. If it was one thing she was good at, it was keeping a secret.

o.o.o.o.o.

Gaara turned to the man sitting next to him and scowled, though it didn't look like a scowl since his face was permanently in a scowl like state. The man didn't notice of course because of that same reason. He turned to the other side of the car and looked out the window to the buildings and cars passing and tried to ignore the discomfort which was growing in his stomach. It wasn't working. Turning his eyes to the rebelling organ itself, he set out on staring it into remission, but apparently his efforts amounted to nothing as his bodily organs seemed unafraid of his murderous glares. Another five minutes elapsed before it felt much too much like there was a live creature in his stomach for him to ignore it much longer. He turned to the man next to him once again,

"My stomach." He said, expecting the man to gather all the information he would ever need from those two words. Said man turned to him, shifted in his sit and then blanched,

"Kazekage sama?" he asked, his voice just over a whisper,

"My stomach." The red head repeated, his annoyance rising, why did he feel like he had idiots for attendants?

"Your stomach, Kazekage sama?" the man asked again frightfully, his hands starting to tremble. A non existent eyebrow rose as the Kazakage of Suna looked on with mild interest, he nodded.

"Oh! You're hungry." The man almost shouted as his brain regained operating function. Gaara's annoyance took a turn for the worst,

"I do not hunger." He said, as he turned to the other men in car, as if to address everyone present on this new information, which was not to be forgotten, "My stomach, it is not well." He concluded turning back to the window.

Baki, one of his most respected advisors and the one seating in the passenger seat opposite the driver took this opportunity to turn to his Kazekage.

"Would you like to satisfy your stomach's needs, Kazekage dono?" he asked

Gaara turned to him nodding once and then turned back to the window.

"My sister recommended a place." He said to no one in particular as his eyes were still glued to the passing structures of the village.

"Hai! Kazekage dono." Baki replied in understanding, before passing a slip of paper to the driver. The rest of the ride was silent as no one spoke or dared to speak out of place in the Kazekage's presence. Some called it respect, others; fear.

o.o.o.o.o.

Shisui stuck his head out of the window of the car, his eyes glued to the burger store which was quickly getting smaller and smaller in the distance.

"That one had a drive-thru!" he shouted at his cousin who seemed unfazed by his little outburst.

"I'm hungry!" the older of the two Uchiha male whined as he sulked down into his chair once more. Why wasn't his whining getting on his cousins nerves? If it was one thing he hated more that a person being angry at him, was a person ignoring him.

"Can't we…" he began,

"Fine!" came the curt response as Itachi turned into a side lane.

Shisui smiled, now that's better.

o.o.o.o.o

Hinata stuffed the little delivery menu booklet inside her bag and bowed one last time to the store manger. The middle-aged woman was very friendly and had appeared almost immediately after she had asked if they did deliveries. The store turned out to be a family owned business, a traditional store if you will, though it was the first of said tradition. The owners, a western couple who were taught in the fields of pastry chef and general chef had moved to Japan the moment they'd finished their schooling. First starting out as helps at restaurants, they had used this opportunity to get familiar with the language and the culinary preferences of the country and had only recently moved to Konaha and opened their store. That explained a lot and the vast amount of international dishes just proved on their mastery of the skill.

Hinata bowed again accepting the small gift basket of western tea the woman insisted she have. She pushed the door exiting the store, her stomach full, her spirits high, life was good. It was considerable warm by now as the sun was higher in the sky and the green tea she had had did help warm her up as well. Checking the street signs, she realized she wasn't that far from the hospital, it was a good ways away yes, but nothing too far that she couldn't take a brisk walk to get there. And walking was a good idea, it provided a way to burn some calories from the two slices of Buchette Declice she just had. Yes, walking it was.

o.o.o.o.o

This, is a pastry store. He read the sign again. Yes, no doubt, it was a pastry store, it said so right there in curly letters on the doors. Gaara turned back to Baki, a quizzical look on his face. Were her hormones messing with her head? Why would Temari recommend eating, be it any meal of the day, at a pastry store? But as Baki also pulled up a blank confused stare after he confirmed the address and their present location with the driver, Gaara could only come up with this as one of his sister's attempts of getting him to enjoy the pleasure of the 'Finer things' as she so affectionately put it. Who said he needed finer things anyways?

Depending solely upon his sister's good taste, Gaara decided it couldn't be so bad to at least enter the store. That way he could tell her he went but there was nothing he liked or the service was bad or some other white lie he could come up with, he didn't really have to buy anything.

Just as he entered the store, he was bathe with the wonderful flavorful scent of the pastries lining the display case. Taking even, slow steps towards said case, the unwelcome movement in his stomach seemed to intensify. Must his own body be such a bother?

"Welcome, how can we help you today, sir?" came the voice of one of the waitresses. She motioned to lead him to a table but he declined and walked straight up to the display case.

"Which would you like, sir?" asked the woman behind the case. There were several of them seeing as it was a rather large display case. Several women and one man.

"Are they sweet?" the stoic redhead asked, staring at the egg glazed pastries which seemed to glisten up at him.

"Well that depends, we have ranging from very sweet to savory." The woman said with a smile. Gaara flinched, what was she so happy about? Scanning the dishes once again he pointed to one of them that had no white confectioners' sugar sprinkled over it or fruit sitting on the top, and especially not covered with chocolate.

"That's our red bean jelly pie." The woman said. Gaara suddenly turned green,

"Sir?" the woman asked showing obvious concern, but her concern was distracted as a pale white hand pointed to another pastry item.

Gaara stood there in bewilderment, was this Temari's idea of a practical joke? All the names and ingredient descriptions the woman was giving just sounded so sickeningly sweet and he was one who did not care for sweets, and though the protest of his stomach was prevented him from leaving, he felt the moment of his departure was soon approaching, and then,

The door opened and closed as a new customer entered the store. Almost simultaneously, all the female attendants eyes shot to that direction and froze. It was an almost scary sight. Them not blinking and all, curious as to their object of such deep admiration, Gaara turned to see a tall, slender man walking towards the display case, he ignored all the female attendants and went straight to the man. After exchanging a few words, the attendant when to a specific section of the display case and removed a few items, he placed them in a small take away case and presented them to the man. He was there and then gone in under five minute, five minutes of which the Kazekage of Suna was completely ignored. Well, that was new.

o.o.o.o.o

Going straight to the male attendant was a very clever way of speeding things up it seemed, Gaara's eyes followed the man as he left the store, his long black ponytail resting on the shoulder of his navy blue suit. Gaara knew he was being watched, just as he was doing some inconspicuous watching himself. And as the man left, the spell was broken,

"What would you like, sir?" rang the voice of the woman before him once again. Newly educated, Gaara pointed to the section of the display case to the left of the large frosted and fruit covered monstrosities they called cake.

"Oh, our savory section, please wait a moment." The woman said as she moved towards said section and began to arrange a display tray.

Patience, unlike most people, was one of Gaara's strong points, so there he was waiting when the doors of the store suddenly swung up again. Was it their Dark Prince once again? It hadn't been a full two minutes since he had left so it's possible he had forgotten something, turning towards the newest patron to the store, turquoise colored eyes froze, no, this definitely wasn't their Dark Prince.

o.o.o.o.o.o

Notes

Suminasen – sorry

Irasshaimase – welcome to our store

Gaara hates sweet bean jelly, its his least favorite food

So, tell me what you think. :)


	15. Sweet ignorance

I, Donot own Naruto.

o.o.o.o.o

Sakura turned towards the opposite side of her bed, pulling the coverlet over her head while in motion. The absence of the annoying beeping of her clock meant there was still a few hours or maybe minutes of sleep to be had, but something else was keeping her from returning to unconscious slumber. Sitting up suddenly in bed, she scanned her room for the offending object and her eyes fell upon the answering machine not too far from her coffee table. Four stomps and three huffs later she was standing over the small black machine, her fists clenched. It wasn't really the machine per say but rather the red light that blinked ever few seconds that was really getting on her nerves. It was insanely bright for such a simple gadget. She glanced at the clock and groaned, she was up two hours early. Ignoring the machine, she padded over to her windows and drew the curtains letting in the bright morning sun, the sounds of human activity drifting up from the streets below. The day was well in swing while she was just over her slumber.

Scratching her head, Sakura pondered over the reason why her gut was telling her something important was going to happen today. Oh yes, the case. This thought was followed by a offending 'pfft' as she remembered the day before. Hinata and herself had rushed over the hospital after receiving their mentor's page, only to be greeted by two empty bottles of sake, scattered files and a small sticky, which would have gone unnoticed if this hadn't happen before. 'Be here at 2:00, shanip' it had said. They later deciphered the last word to be 'sharp'. And that wasn't all too bad, normally they started work at 4:00 today, two hours early for a case file was asking very little of them. And now, it was only 10, almost 4 hours to kill. Dragging herself from the obvious comforts her bed promised, Sakura walked back up to her machine and pressed the play button.

"You have four new messages." The feminine voice started up and almost immediately begged the question, why were almost all answering machines programmed with a female voice, she wasn't trying to be sexist, it was just something to ponder.

"Your first message….Sakura, Darling, it's your mother here, I was wondering if you wanted to go shopping this weekend. It might do you good dear, being around all those sick people everyday isn't very healthy, if I might say so myself. Call me."

With one touch of a button, her shopping trip with her mother when 'poof', it makes you enjoy modern electronics quite a bit.

"Your second message….I don't know if you didn't get my last message, dear, but it's your mom again, there's just been an opening in that great little restaurant I was telling you about, I think your friend owns it, well you're friend's husband. Sakura, sweet heart, when are you going to settle dow... PEEP"

Sakura smiled to herself, yes, there was nothing better than modern technology.

"Your third message…. Sakura chan! Sakura Chaaaaaaaaaaannnnn!!! Sakura chan, Sakura chan, Sakura chan! Oi! Where are you?! Sakura, I'm getting married! The teme finally asked. I think he's slow, you know, mentally, took him three years; you should give him a check up or some…Ouch! What was that for? Teme!! I'm gonna…PEEP"

Sakura stood frozen, the piece of toast she had just bitten into shook and then feel from her mouth. Had she heard correctly? Naruto, Naruto was getting married… to Sasuke. She'd have to lie if she ever had to say she didn't feel a sudden pain crushing her heart within her chest. Her Sasuke. The one man she had… she had…. And her best friend… Wasn't it enough finding out that he prefered the one thing she couldn't be for him and then… with her best friend…. A single lonely tear fell from her right eye unto her cheek, surprising her. Hadn't she gotten over him, hadn't she moved on, hadn't…wasn't…didn't things go back to normal? Then why? Why was she feeling…. This way.

Shaking her head furiously, she tried clearing her mind from the line of thought it presently was determined to follow and just barely caught the last massage,

"Your fourth message….Hey Sakura, um… it's Genma, I think it would be best if we meet, technically we haven't broken up, well, can't say we were together even. Why you reacted the way you did, to me, is a conundrum. That too I would like to clarify. Usual place. Ja ne."

The first sound of the voice made Sakura groan, by the second sentence, her shower was running. Apparently, modern technology was not that grand after all.

o.o.o.o.o.o.o

Gaara's eyes bulged as his body was gripped and squeezed. Finally being released he took a much needed breath, however he was once again enveloped by two strong arms and crushed against an almost promising equally strong torso. This was not right. Gaara was not one for hugs.

Being released a second time, the young Kage quickly learned from experience and took a step away from the offending appendages. And like clockwork, they closed again in the space he was previously occupying. Blue eyes, blinked, then refocused on their target,

"Nice to see you too, Naruto." The red head said calmly. His simple comment was meet by a huge grin. Really, what was it that had that guy smiling so much, all the time?

"What are you doing here?" came the inquiring question.

Gaara shrugged, wasn't it obvious? He glanced from Naruto to the display case and then back, unwilling to answer such a silly question.

"Of course, you're buying pastries." Naruto said, walking towards the shorter man, who almost instinctively took a step back.

"I assume, that's what people do in Pastry shops? I meant, what are you doing in Konaha, why don't I know anything about it, and why didn't you even send to say you were coming? I thought we were buddies." he concluded with a feigned hurt look on his face, a smile obvious behind the frown he was now wearing.

Gaara stared, blinked, then stared so more not giving any hit as to whether he was going to answer the question or not. And to his surprise, Naruto didn't fidget, or jitter, he simply stood there staring back at him with an expectant look in his eyes. The staring contest might have gone on longer had not the blond break the rules by crossing his eyes. It made quite a funny picture, to the point where Gaara had to willfully keep himself from smiling.

"I'm here on business, which has connections with my office, and as your not being in any way directly connected to said post, I doubt you would be informed on my activities or that of any other person in my position…. No matter how close you are with the Hokage." Gaara replied with a small playful glint in his eye, which soon disappeared from the look he received

Naruto looked as if he had taken a blow, that too surprised Gaara, what was going here?

"Well, it's not that…" the blond had began solemnly,

"And the reason I had not informed you of my coming here before hand, was because I had no intention of coming here in the first place, this…" he said glancing around the room,

"This is all an inconvenience."

A clear cough from the behind the counter, had the two men turning in that direction where an older attendant was frowning sharply. Gaara, turned towards her completely, as it was towards him, her look of displeasure was focused, but before he could say anything she spoke,

"The usual Naruto kun?" she asked sweetly, smiling at the blond.

"Chiyo chan!" the blond man practically shouted as he walked over to the counter.

"You look even more stunning today, you should always keep your hair down." He said as he reached over the counter to raise a few strands of the woman's silver locks.

"You youths today." The woman chided, swatting his hand away,

"My Husband might be old, but I dare say he still has some fight left in him." She said, her smile reflecting that of the one Naruto wore,

"If only you were free, and I a bit older." Naruto continued, he countenance downcast, "Ah, how fate is cruel."

The older woman laughed outright as the blond covered his face on the counter, pretending to weep in agony.

"I'm guessing that performance warrants a few extra custard tarts?" she asked, her voice coaxing as she moved away from the counter. The bait was set, and by the speed at which the blond rose his head revealing a brilliant smile, it seemed apparent it had a bite.

"Oh, Chiyo chan, you are the best! There's still time, we can run away together, elope in Hawaii! Your custard tarts, and my 'Hunka Hunka burnin' love!" Naruto shouted after the woman as she disappeared through doors leading to the back of the store laughing.

Turning, said blond was meet with a most peculiar look plastered on his friend's face. Peculiar yet quite funny. He burst out in his own fit of laugher at the expense of a very confused Kazegage.

Gaara sighed, at the moment he was liking this trip less and less and why the hell was there a bear in his stomach?!

o.o.o.o.o.o.o

Hinata was just a few blocks away from the hospital when, she bumped into someone most unexpected.

"Hyuga?" came the obvious question. Hinata groaned…

"Diedara-san, how nice to see you again." She lied

"Oh, you remembered my name, did I leave such a lasting impression on you?" he asked, all cockiness in tow.

"Why yes you did." Hinata answered, smiling ever so sweetly,

"Now, I would like to the follow the instructions associated to that impression and get as far away from you as I can." She said, still smiling.

Diedara pouted, " Now, why would you want to do that?" he asked as he reached for her backpack and swung it over his shoulder.

"Where you headed un?" he asked as he started off in the direction in which she was originally headed. No better choice but to go along with it, she did

"Work," she said as she caught up with him,

"You know, that place where responsible people spend their time doing something productive which ultimately leads to a greater good." She concluded felling the need to apply logic and principle to her statement seeing as her companion lacked the two

"Oh, you mean the paycheck?" he answered, glancing at her from the corner of his eye.

Hinata stopped and glared at his back, until he turned to look at her with a quizzical look,

"No, I meant working as a way of giving back to society, as in trying to ensure your environment is as much comfortable to yourself as possible while at the same time not infringing on the comfort of another" she said with just enough force without the threat of sounding condescending.

"There's no such thing, yeah." Came the monotone response.

Hinata looked up at the longhaired blond, her previous annoyed outburst quelled and now a slight interest resided in its place

Diedara glanced down at the woman beside him, only to catch her looking up at him

"Damn, those are sexy." He said, his gaze lingering on her face a few seconds before he turned back to the street. Confused whether to be embarrassed or annoyed, she opted for an alternate route altogether.

"What do you mean by there being no such thing as working to bring yourself comfort?" she asked

"Oh, no I said no such thing un." Came the quick response

"But…"

"You see work like a guarantee right?" he asked, glance down at her once again

Thinking on her feet, she responded, "Well, in a way, yes."

"Well I don't, before this job at Akatsuki, I couldn't hold a job for more that three weeks, yeah." He said with a small chuckle

"You were being fired?" came the feminine voice at his side

"Er.. no, I was being bored and they were mostly short contracts anyways, so…. see, you see work as an opportunity and seek it for stability, I see work as a eventual pay check and seek it for expression." He concluded.

After pointing the correct street to continue on at a intersection, Hinata continue the conversation,

"You seek it for expression?" she asked, intrigued as to what his answer would be

"Yes, exactly that, un."

They were now walking passing a large red brick office building when Deidara drew Hinata's attention to a painting on the one of its walls. It was graffiti by definition but rather well executed and inspiring by appearance.

"Would you call this his job, hmm?" Deidara asked an enthralled Hinata, as he pointed to the artist just a few yards away from them working on another one of his pieces.

"Y-yes, it's beautiful." came the meek response.

"But, although he does it in a certain sense, to give back to society, and you seem to support his idea, it doesn't quite fit your definition, now does it, un?" he asked.

Hinata was slightly confused, but then caught unto his meaning when a security guard dashed pass them waving his baton at the culprit responsible for defacing the building.

"Work isn't focused on bringing comfort to yourself within the bounds of minimizing discomfort to others, it's merely completing a task assigned to you in a way in which you would be trusted enough to continue doing it and are rewarded for it." He said as he adjusted the bag on his shoulder, and continued down the block, Hinata followed.

"But then, what does that leave us?" she asked after they had traveled a few minutes in silence.

Deidara chuckled, "That, leaves us, us, un" he said smiling. A rather hansom smile, one Hinata did not expect him to have.

"We get to be comfortable in a way, the one thing we can control; ourselves and by default, the things directly associated. That way, there is no desired result, no expectations, just moods and actions, life and art."

o.o.o.o.o.o.

Gaara looked on with clear interest, as the woman assembled two small bags of pastries on the counter in front of him. Naruto was busy flirting with the younger attendants to notice the intense stare the red head had locked with that of the flaky crush treats.

"Would you like one?" came the sudden question,

Gaara looked up suddenly at the woman, surprised at the clear accent in her voice, he hadn't noticed that before. He was contemplating on how to go about a suitable response, when she placed a small tart on a plate and handed it to him,

He accepted the small proffered dish with reluctance, obvious reluctance.

"It's not sweet." Came the sudden statement

Looking up suddenly at this as well, the red head was met by knowing eyes,

"I know, sweet things are just….insufferable" she said with a clear glint in her eyes, a smile playing on her lips.

Leaning towards him, she whispered, "I do wonder how they bear it."

Gaara was slightly disturbed by this statement, what a peculiar turn of events.

"You work in a pastry shop." He said, "Almost everything is sweet."

Chiyo's smile faded slightly, sticking out her chin she answered,

"Just because I don't like eating them, doesn't mean I can't enjoy making them. Plus this coming from the man who admittedly hates social gatherings and still continue to be the Kazekage of such a large town" she said, the glint back in place

"You know who I am." This was stated, as asking if she did was a rather silly question.

Chiyo's smile grew,

"Of course, Kazekage sama." She said bowing slightly, though it was obvious she was mocking him. "Or should I say Gaara kun?"

Gaara's face gave nothing away as he began piecing things together,

"You know my sister." He stated,

"That, I do." Came the response as she reached over the counter to take the plate from his hand, only he wouldn't let go of it.

"Disrespectful to elders, some exemplary Kage you are." She said, clucking her tongue at him.

Gaara sputtered, him?! Disrespectful?! He was a Kage, his title alone warranted respected. feeling defeated as they slowly began to draw attention from the other attendants, he smoothly let go of the plate, but before she could carry it across the counter, he reached out and grabbed the tart, careful not to crush it in his grip. He smirked, witty old woman, meet your match!

"Give it here." Chiyo demanded, her accent becoming more prevalent as she diverged from formal speech

"You gave it to me." Came the monotone response

"And clearly you don't want it" she countered, but before she could go any further, Gaara promptly stuff the entire tart into his mouth.

Chiyo stood still, shocked, surprised. Here was the Kazekage of Suna, with a straight face, a stuffed mouth, and was that a growling stomach?

It started small, but soon, the glint of amusement once present in her yes, spread like wildfire across her face until, she was tearing up and holding her stomach laughing. By now all eyes were on the duo, Naruto was smiling along with the woman, though he was not sure what had happened.

"Temari had said you hadn't changed much, but… but... this?" the older woman tried between burst of laughter.

Embarrassed at his actions and desperate to gather what like pride he had as a Kage and leave while his self pride was still intact, Gaara tried to swallow the tart. whole, and nearly chocked.

Rushing to his side, Chiyo gently tapped on the red head's back and as she repeated shouted for him to chew.

"How silly of you to try swallowing it whole." She chided, swatting him on the shoulder. Now standing this close to him, within arms length, she couldn't help herself but pulled him into a tight embrace.

Gaara groaned, there they go again with the hugging. But being this close to the woman there was something familiar. Something…

"I know you." He said as she released him, "I know you but… I'm not sure who you are." He said, knowing he wasn't making much sense.

"Five years as your nanny and this is all I get, "I know you but I'm not sure who you are." She asked, he hands on her hips

Gaara was at a lost for words. Nanny? For some reason that didn't seen quite right.

"You've gotten tall yes, but you were so much cuter as a baby." The woman continued unaffected by his look of confusion. Then something clicked,

"Cinnamon." He said, it was an unorthodox thing to state but it seemed right.

"You do remember!" the woman exclaimed, reaching into her pocket to produce a small cinnamon stick. She smiled softly,

"Of all the things to remember…" the woman's gaze turned soft and slightly unfocused as she reminisced of times past.

"Here you are, little Gaara kun, Kazekage." She said

Gaara wasn't sure why, but he suddenly felt extremely proud of the fact that he was Kazekage, it wasn't an easy position to attain, especially with a past like his. Funny, it took and 'almost' complete stranger for him to realize that.

To the left of him, Gaara heard, snickering, turning he saw Naruto with his hand over his mouth, his eyes, bulging. Exactly three seconds later, the blond burst out a fit of laughter, his finger pointed in Gaara's direction

"Little Gaara kun, Gaarakun, Ga raccoon, haha…" he said, earning a snicker or two from the attendants around him.

"That's Kazekage of Suna, Gaara kun." Gaara countered,

Shutting up almost immediately, Naruto, stood from the chair, his hands to at his sides.

"Kazekaga sama." He said wearing a playful smile, however the rigidity of his 'mock' bow told another story that just feign respect. Gaara caught it, his almost lighthearted mood disappearing as his face went blank once again.

"Oh, poop! Ni Men Haizi A!" came a feminine voice in their midst,

"So, what if he's Kazekage, You're getting married!" Chiyo said smiling, a contagious smile that spread Naruto.

"That I am." He said, immediately back in spirits.

His face partly covered by his lowered head, a low deep voice came rumbling out of the ribcage of the redhead amongst them

"You're getting married?" he asked, looking up and across the room to the blond

Wearing a goofy grin, while scratching the back of his head, an old childhood habit, Naruto tried avoiding his eyes, which pinned him to the spot where he stood.

The slap was loud and pronounced, drawing the attention of everyone in the immediate vicinity.

o.o.o.o.o.o.o

Sakura walked into the office of her mentor with little motivation and a lot of reluctance. No one liked meeting with Tsuande after a night with a lot of sake, since sake = hangover and hangover = headache and a headache for Tsuande was a pain she shared.

So it was more than a little surprising to notice no one in her office and just a simple single note stuck to the center of the –first time ever completely free from scattered files- desk. It was short and to the point. "CHOSE ONE". Below the sticky were two envelopes, a green one bound in gold and the other, a simple red medical file. Needing a break, from it seemed, everything, Sakura reached for the red case file and left the room. She'd let Hinata have the fancy looking one, she'd had enough of a complicated life as is.

o.o.o.o.o.o

Tenten looked up from her arm to find all eyes on her, backing up a step she raised her hands in surrender, though she wasn't sure to what she was surrendering.

"Mosquito." She said clearly, pointing to the small swollen mark on her forearm. But when the staring eyes did not leave her, she became alert,

"Is this some kind of prank?" she asked, looking around the room for any suspicious individuals or items, but when she came up blank, she guessed again

"Is this store just weird like that?"

A small chuckle floated across the room, drawing her attention.

"Hi, Tenten." Naruto said smiling, though it was a few degrees lower than his normal full out grin. She smiled back, and then noticed the other man.

"Kazekage sama." She said bowing, Gaara nodded towards her direction returning her formal greeting. And then his gaze returned to its original target.

Naruto flinched, then found himself speaking though he wasn't quite sure on what he was saying. His rambling didn't get far though as someone else entered the store,

"Ryu kun, see? We're here." Came the soft feminine voice as a brunette woman walked through the door with a small crying child holding on tightly to her free hand.

Sighing loudly, she dropped her briefcase unto a table, scooped the small boy up into her arms and began to make her way across the room. She looked slightly unkept, her hair pulled up into a messy bun and her jeans were covered with marker smears.

"Kurenai Sensei." Tenten said moving towards the woman. "Ohayo"

Weary red eyes looked in the girl direction,

"Bad day?" Tenten asked as she reached for the small child now sitting on his mother's hip

"The worst." Came the blunt response. Her indirect burden now lifted, Kurenai rotated her shoulder and groaned. Asuma was so going to pay for sending two extra days pursing a deal he knew was shaky from the start. Damn passive-aggressive environmentalists.

"Pistachio Coffee cookies" she called after Tenten as she carried the boy towards the counter, his crying finally abated. Tenten turned with a confused/surprised look on her face, Kureinai shrugged, what could she say, Ryu had weird tastes.

Turning back to her briefcase, she took notice of the other patrons.

"Ore? Kazekage? Naruto? Oh! Naruto, congratulations! I heard great news from Kakashi." She exclaimed walking over to embrace the blond. Slightly embarrassed, Naruto smiled politely at the woman.

"I heard it was quite a public display, your proposal." Kurenai said smirking.

Naruto could practically feel the heat rushing to his face as he remembered what a public spectacle Sasuke's proposal actually was. Though the teme did make up for it later. Uchihas apologize in very, very unique ways.

"Are you here for the engagement party?" Kurenai asked as she turned towards Gaara,

"Isn't it a bit too early?" she glanced back at Naruto, who was still blushing as his mind went places innocent patrons in pastry shops should never know about.

"I didn't even know there was going to be a wedding." Gaara said, his voice void of emotions.

Light turquoise and red eyes turned towards the blond, one pair waiting expectantly, the other slightly intrigued.

"I happened yesterday!" Naruto howled as he felt himself being pressured into an answer. At first he didn't know how to respond so said the first thing that came to mind, fortunately it was the right thing.

Gaara blinked, "Yesterday?"

Naruto nodded his affirmation.

"But how does she know?" he asked looking towards Kurenai.

"Kakashi." The woman replied

"But how did he find out?" Naruto asked, from what he could remember Kakashi…

"Cause I was there." Came the sudden masculine voice behind him.

"Ah!" Naruto shouted as he spun around to see his teacher standing behind him.

"Yo." Kakashi greeted, his one visible eye, arched upward as he smiled.

"When did you get here?" Naruto asked, his hand over his heart as he willed it to calm down.

"I was here right from the start." Kakashi responded, "They make the best baguette." Three pairs of staring eyes focused on him in disbelif,

"What? Am not allowed to enjoy good French bread?" he said before disappearing behind his ever-present copy of Icha Icha Paradise.

Naruto turned back to Gaara smiling, "See, I didn't have any time to tell you. Though, I am glad you're here." He said, his smile evolving into a grin

Gaara nodded in understanding, then begged a question

"Have you had time to think about it?" he asked

"Think about what exactly?" Naruto answered with a question of his own.

"I assume it is the Uchiha who proposed? You have not mentioned anyone else." Gaara continued,

Naruto nodded, "We have been together for three years." He said.

"Ah, yes. That means you must have already figured it out." The redhead said dismissing the subject. Naruto was confused,

"Figured out what exactly?" He asked

Gaara turned back to Naruto his face void of emotions, "I would also assume that the Uchiha is normal and has not…. additional parts?"

"Additional parts? What the hell are you talking about Gaara?" the blond asked exasperated.

"What to do on the wedding night of course. I take it would be quite an interesting feat" Gaara responded, his statement justified in his own mind.

So, it was with somewhat surprising to see Naruto tumble over, Kakashi's book falling from his hands to reveal a shocked visage and Kurenai slapping her hand over her face with a loud groan. Poor sheltered Kage kid.

o.o.o.o.o.

Gomen mina

Been pretty busy, but I got this chapter done

Until next time

Ja


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